💔 Final goodbyes are continuing today for 18-year-old Kevin González ahead of his burial tomorrow in Durango, Mexico. And honestly, this story hurts on so many levels. Because at the center of all the headlines… immigration debates… detention reports… and international attention… was simply a dying teenage boy who wanted his parents beside him. 🤍 Kevin had only recently been diagnosed with terminal stage 4 colon cancer after traveling to Chicago to visit family. Just months earlier, he was a teenager with dreams ahead of him. According to his brother, Kevin still talked about graduating. Still talked about fighting. Still talked about living. But his condition worsened quickly. And as doctors gave devastating updates from Chicago, his parents in Mexico became desperate to reach their son before time ran out. They applied for emergency visas. They were denied because of previous deportations. Imagine that heartbreak for a moment. Knowing your child is dying hundreds of miles away… and every legal path to reach him is closed. So they made a decision no parent should ever have to face. They tried to cross the border illegally just to hold their son again. Instead, they were detained by ICE in Arizona. While all of this was happening, Kevin made a heartbreaking choice of his own. He left the hospital in Chicago and returned to Mexico, hoping somehow… somehow… he could survive long enough to see his parents one final time. And he did. After his parents were released and returned home, Kevin reunited with them Saturday. By Mother’s Day… he was gone. 💔 Now the family that fought through borders, fear, detention, distance, and heartbreak just to be together in his final hours is standing beside his casket preparing to bury an 18-year-old boy. A child. The photos from the wake are devastating. Loved ones holding each other upright through grief that feels too heavy to carry. Tears. Embraces. Silence. Final prayers whispered beside a son they were never ready to lose. And honestly, no matter where people stand on immigration or politics… moments like this remind us of something deeper: A mother wanted to reach her dying child. A father wanted one more moment with his son. And a young man simply wanted his family close before he left this world. Tonight, please pray for Kevin’s parents, siblings, and loved ones as they prepare for tomorrow’s burial. 🤍 Pray for strength. Pray for peace. Pray for comfort in the middle of unimaginable grief. And may Kevin González rest peacefully. 🙏
Judge grants detained parents’ urgent plea to reunite with terminally ill son in Mexico
Kevin Gonzalez, 18, who has metastatic stage 4 colon cancer, is no longer eating or drinking. His parents were detained after crossing the Mexican border to see him.
The urgent plea from the parents of an 18-year-old with terminal cancer in Mexico was answered Thursday when a federal judge in Arizona authorized their expedited deportation from the U.S. so they could reunite with their dying son.
Kevin González has metastatic Stage 4 colon cancer and is currently under his grandmother’s care. Born in Chicago to Mexican immigrant parents, Kevin was diagnosed with the terminal disease in January.
His brother, Jovany Ramírez, began caring for him in Chicago following the diagnosis. Their parents, Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, were living in Mexico at the time after being deported several years back.
After doctors told the family that Kevin stopped responding to treatment, his parents filed humanitarian requests asking to be allowed into the U.S. and be with their son, Virginia Amaya, Kevin’s grandmother, told Telemundo Chicago, which first reported the story.
When the parents’ petitions were denied, the parents crossed the border in a desperate attempt to reunite with their terminally ill son, Amaya said.
González Avilés, 48, and Ramírez Amaya, 43, were taken into immigration custody on April 14 near Douglas, Arizona, and sent to a detention center.
Kevin González is being taken care of by his grandmother Virginia Amaya in Mexico.via Telemundo
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told NBC Chicago in a statement on Wednesday that the parents “did not apply for humanitarian parole.” Instead, they applied for B1/B2 visitor visas, “which were denied due to their previous unlawful presence and entries into the United States.”
Following his parents’ detention, Kevin left Chicago and flew to Mexico; his health soon deteriorated and he hasn’t been allowed to fly. Kevin has hoped to reunite with his parents in his grandmother’s home.
His doctors in Chicago wrote letters calling for the “compassionate release” of González Avilés and Ramírez Amaya so they could reunite with their sick son in Mexico. They recommended that Kevin “receive comfort care until the end of his life” with his family in Mexico.
“Sadly, Kevin is not expected to survive long,” the letter, which was obtained by Telemundo Chicago, reads.
According to court records obtained by NBC News, Isidoro González Avilés had been previously removed from the United States on January 2011 and had no legal authorization to come back into the U.S.
On Thursday he faced a crucial court hearing in Tucson, Arizona, where a federal judge was to decide if he would face criminal charges for illegal re-entry or if he would be repatriated to Mexico, according to Fernando Sánchez, the consul of Mexico in Tucson, who spoke to Telemundo Chicago on Wednesday.
During the hearing, González Avilés was crying as he asked the judge to send him to Mexico to be with his son.
The judge was moved, saying he was understanding of the situation since he also has children, and authorized his expedited deportation.
Kevin González’s doctors in Chicago have recommended he receive “comfort care” until the end of his life.Telemundo
Both González Avilés and Ramírez Amaya are expected to be removed to Mexico through the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona later on Thursday, according to Telemundo Chicago. Immigration authorities had not confirmed an exact timeline for their deportation.
Susana Villalvazo, a spokesperson for the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago, told NBC News in a statement Thursday afternoon that consulate officials in Tucson remained in close contact with the parents and their attorney “during today’s hearing and are currently coordinating with ICE authorities their expedite repatriation.”
The consulate of Mexico in Nogales and Mexican government officials in Durango will then coordinate the parents’ reunification with their son, Villalvazo said.
Since Kevin first spoke out Tuesday from Mexico pleading for his parents’ deportation, his health has deteriorated dramatically. He’s now unable to eat and drink water and can barely speak.
“My brother’s days are numbered. So, what he wanted was for my parents to be there,” Jovany Ramírez told Telemundo Chicago.
Ramírez said his brother barely sleeps anymore because “he is afraid he won’t wake up again.”
“That just breaks my heart, seeing how much he is suffering,” their grandmother told Telemundo Chicago.