Parents released from Arizona DHS facility reunited with their teen son a day before he died of cancer

Maria Santana, Fidel Gutierrez, Caroll Alvarado, Marlon Sorto, Zoe Sottile, CNN
Posted

(CNN) — A Mexican couple detained by the Department of Homeland Security were able to reunite with their son, an 18-year-old US citizen, just a day before he died of cancer.

The couple, Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, traveled to Durango, Mexico to be with their son Kevin González Saturday evening in Durango, Mexico. The teenager died Sunday afternoon, his family told CNN.

Kevin, who was born in the US but raised in Mexico, fell ill while visiting family in Chicago over Christmas, according to CNN affiliate WLS. He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

“What I want to say to people is thank you for helping my family to be able to have the choice,” the 18-year-old – his face gaunt – told CNN in Durango shortly after reuniting with his parents.

Avilés and Amaya were in tears as they embraced Kevin after taking a bus to Durango, a state in northwest Mexico.

His parents, Mexican nationals, had both previously been deported from the US after entering “illegally,” DHS told CNN Friday.

In a desperate bid to see their son again after his diagnosis, the couple attempted to reenter the US in April, WLS reported. They were both arrested April 14 near Douglas, Arizona, according to DHS. They say they spent weeks in detention before they were deported and able to reunite with their son.

DHS told CNN the couple had applied for B1/B2 visas – temporary nonimmigrant visas – “which were denied due to their previous unlawful presence and entries into the United States.”

The couple were deported to Mexico Friday, DHS said. A US district judge in Tucson, Arizona, ordered the release of González’s parents on Thursday morning, according to WLS.

Their son flew to Mexico around a week ago, according to WLS, hoping to be reunited with his parents before he died.

“We managed to make my son’s dream come true: to be with him again, to love him, to give him the love we could not give him during these months when he was not with us,” said Avilés after reuniting with his son.

“We sought every option. They denied us visas. They detained us at the border,” he said.

He showed his tattoos of his son’s name as well as Saint Jude – the patron saint of lost causes and desperate situations.

Speaking Saturday, his father called Kevin “very strong.”

Amaya cried as she held her son.

“These tears are from emotion, from seeing him again, from touching him again, from telling him how much I love him,” she said.

DHS said Avilés had been arrested and charged multiple times for different crimes, which ranged from minor to serious, and was deported in 2011. DHS did not respond to questions about where or when the alleged charges took place, and the outcomes of those cases are unclear.

Interviewed before reuniting with his son, Avilés said Friday he was “a humble worker” who worked as a taxi driver and truck driver in Durango.

In detention, he said, they were treated “like criminals” and were chained at the hands and feet for their court appearances.

He also said he and his wife had been denied humanitarian visas to see their son. “We went through a lot, and in the end, all I want is to be with him,” he said.

DHS said, “Anabel illegally entered the United States for the first time in 2005 and was later removed back to Mexico in 2011.”

Rep. Delia Ramirez, who represents the district where González is receiving treatment in Chicago, expressed her support for the family in a statement Thursday.

“Rejecting visas to Kevin’s family did not protect our communities,” she said. “Putting families through the pain, stress, and fear of separation is not making our loved ones safer. Detaining immigrants for months in for-profit, inhumane detentions is not securing our nation.”

Kevin had said he would celebrate Mother’s Day Sunday by giving his mother “lots of hugs, over and over.”