After Public Outcry, Trump Administration Resumes Processing Protections for Sick Immigrants

Amid intense criticism and a congressional inquiry, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Thursday it will resume processing requests for long-standing humanitarian protections that allow immigrants to receive often lifesaving medical treatment in the country.

The order to completely reverse the policy change by USCIS on deportation relief for medical conditions, known as medical deferred action, came from the top official at the Department of Homeland Security, a USCIS spokesperson said.

"At the direction of [DHS] acting Secretary McAleenan, USCIS is resuming its consideration of non-military deferred action requests on a discretionary, case-by-case basis, except as otherwise required by an applicable statute, regulation, or court order,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

USCIS receives about 1,000 requests for deferred action per year, mostly for family support or medical reasons.

Since Aug. 7, USCIS denied the protections for more than 420 immigrants, as the agency abruptly stopped considering such requests, except for military families.

Concord resident Maria Isabel Bueso, who was born with a rare genetic disorder and must receive weekly intravenous infusions of medicine at an Oakland hospital to survive, was told by USCIS to leave the country in 33 days or face deportation.

After public outcry, including a letter signed by nearly 130 members of Congress urging USCIS to reverse the shift in policy, the agency said on Sept. 2 it would reopen pending cases only, such as Bueso’s. But the future of medical deferred action, which must be renewed every two years, remained unclear.

Bueso, 24, testified during a four-hour congressional hearing last week that she would die if forced to leave the U.S. The medicine she currently receives is not available in her native Guatemala.

Daniel Renaud, associate director at USCIS' Field Operations Directorate, refused to answer questions from outraged members of Congress about how or why the agency decided to stop considering deferred action requests, citing a recent lawsuit by an immigrant rights group in Massachusetts challenging the policy change .

After the news Thursday, Bueso said she and her family were “cautiously optimistic.”

“I am so grateful to all of the leaders who spoke with me last week in D.C. and played a role in helping to reinstate the deferred action program,” Bueso said. “We now wait to see whether our case will be approved, as well as confirmation on the future of the program in order to give families like mine the assurance that our lives won’t continue to be threatened.”

Congressman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, a member of the Oversight and Reform Committee who requested the hearing, said he still wants answers for Bueso, who is his constituent, and others.

“This will save people's lives, but we never should have had to go through it. I'm grateful that they've come to their senses and we are back to where they should've stayed,” DeSaulnier said. “But I want to find out who was responsible and they should be held accountable to the Congress and the U.S. taxpayers. This was a waste of money. Very cruel.”

DeSaulnier said the oversight committee was planning a second hearing next week ordering USCIS officials to attend.

“I think that may be part of the reason they decided to back off,” he said.

Bueso was 7 years old when she moved to the U.S. with her parents and sister, after doctors at UC San Francisco invited her to participate in a clinical trial that eventually led to federal approval of a drug to treat her condition — mucopolysaccharidosis type VI.

Doctors in Guatemala had told Bueso’s parents she wouldn’t survive past age 10. But the medical treatment at UCSF has extended her life more than a decade.

The disease left her confined to a wheelchair and breathing through a device in her throat. But that didn’t stop Bueso from training to become a dance instructor and graduating summa cum laude from California State University East Bay — where she set up a scholarship fund for students with disabilities.

People with Bueso’s disease lack an enzyme that allows the body to break down certain sugars. The genetic mutation leads to very short stature, because the skeletal system cannot develop normally, as well as pulmonary, heart and other problems.

DeSaulnier introduced a private bill that would grant permanent resident status — green cards — to Bueso and her family. He said he’s also working on a separate bill to protect other immigrants with significant medical needs who depend on deferred action.