An 18-year-old Chicago boy died just hours after a final reunion with his parents who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while attempting to cross the US-Mexican border to reach him. Kevin Gonzalez passed away on Sunday at his family home in Durango, Mexico, following a diagnosis of stage 4 colon cancer late last year.
Gonzalez learned he had terminal cancer over the Christmas holidays while visiting his brother in Chicago, the city of his birth. When his family was told he was dying, his parents, Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, applied for emergency visas to see him but were denied because both had previously been deported. In a desperate attempt, they decided to cross the border illegally.
The parents were caught crossing in Arizona and detained on April 14, sparking a month-long fight to reach Kevin as he underwent cancer treatment in Illinois. The family's attempts to enter the US under the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies failed. With just days left to live, Kevin eventually left the US to find his remaining family in Mexico. He checked himself out of the University of Chicago Medical Center last week, despite his parents still being in ICE custody.
Gonzalez flew to his grandmother's home in Mexico, hoping his parents would be released and deported in time for him to say goodbye. His prayers were answered when an Arizona judge ordered their release on Thursday. They returned to Mexico on Friday, and officials helped them board a bus from the border to an emergency flight to reach their son as soon as possible, according to his brother Jovany Ramirez.
The family reunited just in time, as Kevin's parents arrived at the home in Mexico to spend one final weekend with their son. Footage showed the weak patient hugging his parents and siblings. He passed away on Mother's Day on Sunday, surrounded by his family.
After reuniting with his son, Aviles told CNN: '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.' Crying as she held her son, Amaya added: 'These tears are from emotion, from seeing him again, from touching him again, from telling him how much I love him.'
Shortly before reuniting with his parents, Gonzalez told CNN he was thankful for the help his family received. 'What I want to say to people is thank you for helping my family to be able to have the choice,' the cancer-stricken teenager said.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said the parents had applied for B1/B2 visas, which grant temporary non-immigrant status, but were rejected 'due to their previous unlawful presence and entries into the United States.' Despite being blocked for weeks with time running out, Aviles said he and his wife would have stopped at nothing to try to get back to their son. 'We sought every option. They denied us visas. They detained us at the border,' he said.
DHS said Kevin's father had been arrested and charged numerous times over the years and was deported in 2011. It is unclear what crimes he had previously been charged with. Aviles described himself as a 'humble worker' who had found a job as a taxi driver and truck driver in Durango, and decried that he and his wife were treated 'like criminals' in ICE detention. 'We went through a lot, and in the end, all I want is to be with him,' he said.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Democrat representing the area of Chicago where Kevin was receiving treatment, slammed the Trump administration's efforts to keep the family apart. 'Rejecting visas to Kevin's family did not protect our communities. 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,' she said.
