Bishop asks ICE to keep mom of child with cancer in U.S.

EL PASO — Religious leaders intervened Monday on behalf of a mother whose request for asylum in the United States was denied two years ago and whose daughter has bone cancer.

Maria Elena de Loera, whose husband was killed in Mexico, feared for the safety of her children when she sought asylum in 2014. She was denied in summer 2015 but not before her daughter Alia Escobedo, now 8 years old, was diagnosed.

Immigration officials granted de Loera a reprieve while Alia was undergoing treatment for small-cell osteosarcoma, and every year since de Loera's lawyer has requested a renewal of her permit and reversal of orders to deport the mother of three.

"The church’s responsibility is, I think, to speak the gospel and to speak to the conscience of people in our country to call us to something better, to call us to be a place of compassion, even if we deal with these complex issues of immigration," said Bishop Mark Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso.

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He and other religious leaders met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the first time Seitz has directly intervened to keep a person from being deported.

ICE officials accepted a request for a stay of removal, which means that they are going to consider the evidence presented to decide whether de Loera can remain in the country, said Linda Rivas, de Loera's lawyer. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes.

“We find this to be good news, and we do appreciate the cooperation from ICE at this time given that Maria is at her daughter’s side,” Rivas said. “They have the understanding that this is a very critical and special case given the daughter’s condition.”

ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

De Loera, who wears an ankle monitor so immigration officials can access her location at all times, was at El Paso Children's Hospital with her daughter Monday as Seitz and others intervened on her behalf. 

Alia has undergone eight surgeries, some on her right leg, lungs and mouth, to remove the cancer. 

The 8-year-old, who is described by her mother as a fighter, beat cancer briefly.

In February, her cancer went into remission but it returned as other tumors formed in her lungs. Alia has been in and out of the hospital's intensive-care unit.

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"She is very strong," De Loera said in a video. "She has tremendous strength. She does not give up. She wants to keep living."  

One of the hospital's doctors inspired Alia to go to Harvard University to become a physician, her mother said. 

“It really moves your heart to see any child suffering from something like this," Seitz said. "Clearly, it would be a cruel thing for our country to deport her mother, who fled from Mexico when her husband was murdered with obviously a credible fear for herself and for her children.

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“It would be cruel at this moment to leave her daughter in the hospital and to be deported from this country,” he said.

ICE officials argue that Alia's sister is the child’s caretaker, de Loera said. No documents demonstrate that Alia's sister is her legal guardian.

“I’ve always taken care of my daughter," de Loera said. "Since she was diagnosed with sarcoma, I’ve been by her side day and night. The doctors and the nurses know I’ve been with her at all times."

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Rivas is asking that immigration officials give de Loera a reprieve for at least another year.

“If we go back to Juarez, she is not going to survive," de Loera said of the Mexican border city across the Rio Grande from El Paso. "She has a better chance to live if she stays here."

Follow Aileen B. Flores on Twitter: @AileenBFlores