Trump administration revokes parole of Mexican girl receiving lifesaving care in US, lawyer says

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Trump administration has revoked permission for a 4-year-old Mexican girl who receives lifesaving medical care from a California hospital to stay in the country, attorneys for the family said on Wednesday.

Lawyer Gina Amato said the girl's mother was notified the U.S. government was withdrawing the humanitarian parole the family received in 2023 when she brought her ailing child to the U.S.-Mexico border. She received the notifications in April and May and was told the family is subject to potential deportation, Amato said.

Since then, the girl has made it out of the hospital thanks to a treatment that provides intravenous nutrition through a backpack she wears. Lawyers said she isn't strong enough to survive without it as she suffers from short bowel syndrome, which prevents her from being able to take in and process nutrients on her own, and the treatment she receives isn't available in Mexico.

“Doctors have been clear that she will die within days” without this care, Amato said at a press conference in Los Angeles. “Deporting this family under these conditions is not only unlawful, it constitutes a moral failure that violates the basic tenets of humanity and decency.”

The attorneys did not provide the girl’s real name to protect her privacy.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately comment.

A senior Homeland Security official, in an email sent from an address for media inquiries, said the family is not actively being deported and a more recent application for parole that was filed two weeks ago is still being considered.

The Trump administration has been pushing to dismantle policies from President Joe Biden’s administration that allowed for people to live legally in the U.S., generally for two years.

Humanitarian parole, which doesn't put migrants on a path to U.S. citizenship, was widely used during the Biden administration to alleviate pressure on the U.S.-Mexico southern border. It was previously used on a case-by-case basis to address individual emergencies and also for people fleeing humanitarian crises around the world including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos during the late 1970s.

In Mexico, the girl was largely confined to a hospital because of her medical condition, her mother Deysi Vargas told reporters. Once the family arrived at the border, U.S. officials had the child taken to a hospital in San Diego, where she stayed until she was well enough to join a program through Children's Hospital Los Angeles that allows her to receive treatment at home in Bakersfield, California, Vargas said.

Now, she enjoys going to the park and the supermarket — and above all, living outside a hospital's walls, Vargas said.

“With the help she has received in the United States, my daughter has the opportunity to leave the hospital, see the world, and live like a girl her age,” Vargas said in Spanish.

Her daughter sat nearby, smiling and playing with stickers, while wearing the black backpack that helps keep her alive.

Children's Hospital Los Angeles declined to comment for the story,

Attorneys said they have written to U.S. government officials asking if they made a mistake and filed a fresh application for humanitarian parole for the family.

Amato, who is directing attorney of Public Counsel's Immigrants' Rights Project, said they haven't received an answer and the notice indicated the family could be deported. She said she has also reached out to elected officials for help.

Deysi Vargas, left, talks to her 4-year-old daughter, who has short bowel syndrome, at a news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, after their humanitarian parole was terminated and they were ordered to self-deport. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A 4-year-old Mexican girl, who has short bowel syndrome, wears a backpack carrying her medical device at a news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, after her and her mother's humanitarian parole was terminated and they were ordered to self-deport. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A 4-year-old Mexican girl, who has short bowel syndrome, attends a news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, after her and her mother's humanitarian parole was terminated and they were ordered to self-deport. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A 4-year-old Mexican girl, who has short bowel syndrome, holds the hand of Yonny Aguilar, a senior paralegal at Public Counsel, as she and her mother, far left, leave a news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, after their humanitarian parole was terminated and they were ordered to self-deport. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A 4-year-old Mexican girl, who has short bowel syndrome, attends a news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, after her and her mother's humanitarian parole was terminated and they were ordered to self-deport. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Some celebrities donned anti-ICE pins at the Golden Globes on Sunday in tribute to Renee Good, who was shot and killed in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer this week in Minneapolis.

The black-and-white pins displayed slogans like “BE GOOD” and “ICE OUT,” introducing a political angle into the awards show after last year’s relatively apolitical ceremony.

Mark Ruffalo, Wanda Sykes, Jean Smart and Natasha Lyonne wore the pins on the red carpet, and other celebrities were expected to have them on display as well.

Since the shooting Wednesday, protests have broken out across the country, calling for accountability for Good's death as well as a separate shooting in Portland where Border Patrol agents wounded two people. Some protests have resulted in clashes with law enforcement, especially in Minneapolis, where ICE is carrying out its largest immigration enforcement operation to date.

“We need every part of civil society, society to speak up,” said Nelini Stamp of Working Families Power, one of the organizers for the anti-ICE pins. “We need our artists. We need our entertainers. We need the folks who reflect society.”

Congressmembers have vowed an assertive response, and an FBI investigation into Good's killing is ongoing. The Trump administration has doubled down in defending the ICE officer's actions, maintaining that he was acting in self-defense and thought Good would hit him with her car.

Just a week before Good was killed, an off-duty ICE officer fatally shot and killed 43-year-old Keith Porter in Los Angeles. His death sparked protests in the Los Angeles area, calling for the officer responsible to be arrested.

The idea for the “ICE OUT” pins began with a late-night text exchange earlier this week between Stamp and Jess Morales Rocketto, the executive director of a Latino advocacy group called Maremoto.

They know that high-profile cultural moments can introduce millions of viewers to social issues. This is the third year of Golden Globes activism for Morales Rocketto, who has previously rallied Hollywood to protest the Trump administration’s family separation policies. Stamp said she always thinks of the 1973 Oscars, when Sacheen Littlefeather took Marlon Brando’s place and declined his award to protest American entertainment’s portrayal of Native Americans.

So, the two organizers began calling up the celebrities and influencers they knew, who in turn brought their campaign to the more prominent figures in their circles. That initial outreach included labor activist Ai-jen Poo, who walked the Golden Globes’ red carpet in 2018 with Meryl Streep to highlight the Time’s Up movement.

“There is a longstanding tradition of people who create art taking a stand for justice in moments,” Stamp said. “We’re going to continue that tradition.”

Allies of their movement have been attending the “fancy events” that take place in the days leading up to the Golden Globes, according to Stamp. They’re passing out the pins at parties and distributing them to neighbors who will be attending tonight’s ceremony.

“They put it in their purse and they’re like, ‘Hey would you wear this?’ It’s so grassroots,” Morales Rocketto said.

The organizers pledged to continue the campaign throughout awards season to ensure the public knows the names of Good and others killed by ICE agents in shootings.

For more coverage of the 2026 Golden Globes, visit https://apnews.com/hub/golden-globe-awards

Jean Smart poses in the press room with the award for best performance by a female actor in a television series – musical or comedy for "Hacks" during the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Natasha Lyonne, left, and Clea DuVall arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Wanda Sykes arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Mark Ruffalo, left, and Sunrise Coigney arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Mark Ruffalo, wearing a "Be Good" pin, arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)