Mexican parents denied U.S. entry to say goodbye to dying daughter

26-year-old Mexican immigrant Maria Sanchez died in Houston, Texas on Sunday just four days after her parents were denied entry into the U.S. to say goodbye.

Sanchez’s husband, Luis Aguillon, stated that Maria passed away at home from an inoperable spinal tumor. Aguillon, a legal U.S. resident, moved his wife and young daughter Melissa to Houston so that Sanchez could be treated at Ben Taub Hospital.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied a humanitarian parole that would have permitted Maria’s parents to visit their daughter, who was in the country illegally, one last time. They hadn’t seen Maria in 9 years. The agency explained that the reason for the denial was because humanitarian parole is an extraordinary measure given only for a “very compelling emergency.”

Here is information on humanitarian parole via the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration website:

Humanitarian parole is used sparingly to bring someone who is otherwise inadmissible into the United States for a temporary period of time due to a compelling emergency.

USCIS may grant parole temporarily:

• To anyone applying for admission into the United States based on urgent humanitarian reasons or if there is a significant public benefit

• For a period of time that corresponds with the length of the emergency or humanitarian situation

Parolees must depart the United States before the expiration of their parole. You may submit a request for reparole, which must be approved by USCIS. Parole does not grant any immigration benefits.

Requirements for Parole

• Anyone can file an application for humanitarian parole.

• You may file an application for parole if you cannot obtain the necessary admission documents from the Department of State

You cannot use parole to avoid normal visa-issuing procedures or to bypass immigration procedures. As noted above, there must be an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit for the parole to be granted.

Earlier in 2012, the Mexican father of a boy killed in a Schuylkill Co. fire house, along with three others, was allowed back into the U.S. via humanitarian parole to bury his son.

Aguillon stated that he would be sending his wife to Mexico for a burial.

For Luis, Maria, their daughter Melissa and Maria’s parents: