ICE deported a sick mother to Venezuela, and her health has since deteriorated even further. Josceymar García Flores was deported to Caracas, Venezuela, while she was waiting for a life-saving surgery. She was on a waitlist for a liver transplant.

Due to the lack of healthcare in Venezuela, she cannot get a liver transplant there. Therefore, returning to the U.S. is her only hope of survival. However, she has been denied re-entry even for the emergency surgery.

ICE agents detained her in San Antonio, Texas, outside a supermarket. García Flores has a five-year-old daughter. She said that if she doesn’t survive, her daughter will be left all alone. In an interview, she revealed that her health rapidly deteriorated after being deported and how the circumstances have left her heartroken.

She stated her daughter has seen her vomiting blood, and it has been traumatic for both of them. Her daughter, who’s a U.S. citizen, said, “Mama, I don’t want you to die.” García Flores was in tears during the interview. She explained her situation and said going back to America is her only chance.

There has been a total collapse of the healthcare system in Venezuela. The government-run Venezuelan Foundation for Organ, Tissues, and Cell Donations and Transplant suspended organ procurement in 2017.

Moreover, there is a lack of essential medications, such as immunosuppressants, that are required to make an organ donation successful. Without them, the body may reject the new organ. It’s simply not possible for her to get the surgery in Venezuela.

Several people sympathized with García Flores and her daughter. One X user posted, “And that situation has NOT improved with Trump now ‘controlling’ Venezuela! “ Another one added, “This inhumane treatment is unacceptable. It is a lie that these kinds of deportations make anybody safer or better off. Cruelty is the sole purpose.”

However, some people did not approve of an immigrant getting a liver transplant over an American. A user posted, “Just because she was on the list, how long is that list she was on? Do illegals take priority over people on the list before her? I feel for her, but there are protocols. Who was her donor? Does that mean taxpayers were paying for the surgery?”

In another case, a 23-year-old Andrea Pedro-Francisco was scheduled to have her surgery, but was arrested by ICE. She needed to get her ovarian cyst removed, but was sent to a detention center with a lack of medical facilities.

ICE arrested her five days before her surgery. According to her attorney, she had a golf-ball-sized cyst, which had to be checked for cancer. The attorney mentioned her health issues in the court filing.

So far, her pain has gotten worse due to the cyst growth without surgery. She has been held in ICE custody for almost four months now, and her attorneys are pushing for supervised bail so she can get the right medical attention in Minnesota.