An 18-year-old Chicago native tragically passed away just hours after an emotional reunion with his parents, who had been apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while attempting to cross the US-Mexico border to see him.
Kevin Gonzalez succumbed to stage 4 colon cancer on Sunday at his family home in Durango, Mexico. His family had received the devastating diagnosis late last year.
During a Christmas visit to his brother in Chicago, where he was born, Gonzalez discovered he was facing a terminal illness.
Upon learning of his condition, Gonzalez’s parents revealed to ABC13 that they applied for emergency visas to be by his side. However, their requests were denied due to their prior deportations.
Determined to reunite with their son, Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya made the difficult decision to cross the border illegally.
They were detained in Arizona on April 14, igniting a month-long struggle to reach Kevin, who was undergoing cancer treatment in Illinois.
The family’s attempts to enter into the US under the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies failed, and with just days left to live, Kevin eventually left the US to find his remaining family in Mexico.
Gonzalez checked himself out of the University of Chicago Medical Center last week, despite his parents still being in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the time.
Kevin Gonzalez, 18, died on Sunday, just hours after a final reunion with his parents who were detained by ICE trying to cross the US-Mexican border to get to him
Footage showed Kevin Gonzalez embracing his parents after an Arizona judge ordered their release, just in time for them to reunite with him before he died from stage 4 colon cancer in Mexico
Gonzalez flew to his grandmother’s home in Mexico with hopes that his parents would be released by ICE and deported in time for him to say goodbye.
His prayers were answered last week, when an Arizona judge on Thursday ordered Gonzalez’s parents to be released after weeks in detention.
They returned to Mexico on Friday, and officials helped them board a bus from the border to an emergency flight to get to their son as soon as they could, his brother Jovany Ramizrez told WLS-TV.
The family were able to reunite just in time, as Kevin’s parents arrived at the home in Mexico to spend one final weekend with their son.
Footage of the family’s embrace showed the weak patient hugging his parents and siblings as they were finally together again.
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,’ he said.
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.’
Gonzalez checked himself out of the University of Chicago Medical Center last week in hopes of seeing his family again, despite his parents still being in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the time
Gonzalez learned he had terminal cancer over the Christmas holidays while visiting his brother in Chicago, the city where he was born
Homeland Security officials said Gonzalez’s parents tried to obtain legal visas to see him, but they were rejected ‘due to their previous unlawful presence and entries into the United States’
Shortly before reuniting with his parents, the 18-year-old told CNN that he was thankful for the help his family received in their desperate scramble to see each other again.
‘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 rejected them ‘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 and get back to their son.
‘We sought every option. They denied us visas. They detained us at the border,’ he said.
The cancer stricken 18-year-old said he was thankful for the help his family received in their desperate scramble to see each other again, saying: What I want to say to people is thank you for helping my family to be able to have the choice’
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 a 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 before their final reunion.
‘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.’
