A Dying Son, His Detained Parents and a Race to Reunite Before the End

"Growing up, Kevin Gonzalez, 18, dreamed of going to college and becoming a lawyer. But as he lay in a hospital bed in Chicago this winter, his gaunt frame ravaged by colon cancer, those aspirations narrowed to one final wish: seeing his parents before he died. Fulfilling that dream meant a desperate fight against time in his final weeks of life as his father, Isidoro Gonzales Aviles, and his mother, Norma Anabel Ramirez Amaya, sat in President Trump's immigration-detention system."

"Kevin Gonzalez, an American citizen, was being treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center, but his parents, Mexican citizens on the other side of the southwestern border, had already been deported multiple times after illegal crossings. That made it nearly impossible for them to get legal permission to return to the United States. So last month, relatives said, the parents decided to cross once again illegally, this time to see their dying son, only to be apprehended on April 14 near the Arizona border."

"As they sat in a detention center and Mr. Gonzalez's health faded, his family grew desperate. They pleaded his case to the Mexican consulate, to elected officials, to the news media, to anyone who would listen. The cancer had spread to his stomach and lungs, they said. He could not eat solid foods. They just wanted to reunite him with his parents."

"It is the most important thing, his older brother, Jovany Ramirez, 23, said in a telephone interview from Chicago, where he spent the past few months helping care for Mr. Gonzalez."

Kevin Gonzalez, an American citizen, was hospitalized in Chicago with advanced colon cancer. His parents, Mexican citizens, had been deported multiple times after illegal crossings and faced near-impossible legal barriers to return. In his final weeks, the family’s goal became reuniting him with his parents before his death. Relatives said the parents crossed again illegally to see him, but were apprehended near the Arizona border on April 14. While detained, the family pleaded with the Mexican consulate, elected officials, media, and others. They reported the cancer had spread to his stomach and lungs and that he could not eat solid foods.

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