Deported family of U.S. citizen girl recovering from brain surgery alleges civil rights abuses in new complaint

A family that was deported to Mexico is requesting an investigation into abuses they say they faced in U.S. detention, according to a civil rights complaint first obtained by NBC News. The mixed-immigration status family, including four U.S. citizen children, one of whom is a 10-year-old girl recovering from brain surgery, are in an area of Mexico where, they say, they fear for their safety.

The Texas Civil Rights Project, a legal advocacy and litigation organization representing the family, filed the complaint Monday with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on behalf of the family.

The complaint alleges that Customs and Border Protection, which detained and deported the family last month, committed “serious abuses” when it denied medical care to the 10-year-old girl, detained U.S. citizen children “in deplorable conditions” and removed them to Mexico, “where their lives are in peril because of their status as U.S. citizens,” among other claims.

The Trump administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, has said “families can be deported together” regardless of status. Homan said it would be up to the parents to decide whether to depart the U.S. together or leave their children behind. In this case, the parents took their children with them so the family could stay together.

Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, told NBC News, “We’re also asking for humanitarian parole for the family,” so the girl’s undocumented parents can care for her as she continues her recovery after she underwent surgery in Texas to remove a brain tumor last year.