The Case of Rosa María Hernández is Outrageous

The Trump Administration’s deportation machinery hit a new low last week with the arrest and detention of 10-year old Rosa María Hernández in Texas. Rosa María has cerebral palsy and has lived in Texas since she was three months old.

Are we, as Americans, to somehow feel proud that a group of armed government agents have apprehended a distressed 10-year-old child?

Last week, she had to pass through a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoint in Texas to reach a hospital in Corpus Christi, where she underwent gallbladder surgery. At the checkpoint, CBP sent agents to escort the ambulance the rest of the way to Corpus Christi – and then waited outside Rosa María’s hospital room, eventually detaining her, separating her from her family, and sending her to a shelter in San Antonio to face deportation.

“Our nation under Trump and under his heartless deportation force from CBP and ICE have hit a new low,” stated Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund. “You can’t get more cold than stalking a 10-year disabled child on her way to emergency surgery and then separating her from her mother. Are we, as Americans, to somehow feel proud that a group of armed government agents have apprehended a distressed 10-year-old child? Where are our values? What public interest is served by depriving this young girl of her dignity? Even by the callous standards of the Trump Administration, the case of Rosa María Hernández is outrageous. This isn’t law enforcement; this is child cruelty. Rosa María should be returned and reunited with her mother immediately.”