WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today on the continued detention of Rosa Maria Hernandez, a 10 year-old Dreamer with cerebral palsy who was detained by CBP after undergoing emergency surgery, and is now being processed for deportation:

“For the last week, 10 year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez has been imprisoned in a taxpayer-funded detention center, separated from her parents while she is being processed for deportation. She has cerebral palsy and was taken from the hospital where she was recovering from emergency surgery. For two weeks, her family has trying to secure her release so they can take her home. Today, she is supposed to be going with her parents to a critical follow-up appointment with her physician in Laredo, but immigration agents continue to refuse to release her.

“Yesterday, FWD.us joined 173 organizations from across the country to call on the Department of Homeland Security to release Rosa Maria to her family. She should be allowed to recover at home in Texas, where she has lived since being brought here at 3 months old to receive the critical care she needs for her cerebral palsy. Rosa Maria is one of millions of young Dreamers who have lived in the U.S. since childhood, desperately awaiting Congress to pass a permanent legislative solution so they can continue living in the only country they know as home.

“Rosa Maria is a Dreamer, but was too young to apply for DACA. Her detention is a horrific example of what will continue to happen across the country if Congress fails to move quickly and pass legislation to protect Dreamers. We need Congress to immediately pass a Dream Act to ensure that Dreamers like Rosa Maria aren’t targets for deportation.”