Brain Cancer Patient Facing Deportation Granted Temporary Stay
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Bellevue Hospital brain cancer patient facing deportation will be allowed to stay in the country, at least temporarily.
As WCBS 880's Mike Smeltz reported, Sara Beltran Hernandez, of El Salvador, was caught by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Texas. While in detention, she collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a brain tumor.
"She was basically held almost as a prisoner in the hospital," her lawyer, Fatmah Maroof, told Smeltz.
Maroof said ICE put her client on something called the "no contact list," which prevents patients from calling their family, and the hospital does not even show the patient on their records.
"I went to the hospital in person to try to see her, and I was not allowed into her room. I basically entered to try to speak with her and the guards immediately pushed me out," she said.
A federal judge issued a stay in Hernandez's deportation -- which was set for next Thursday – partly due to her medical condition.
She's now in New York, where he family lives, receiving treatment for her tumor while the legal proceedings play out.