On June 12, 2024, Marvin experienced a seizure that caused him to fall down a set of stairs and hit his head. He’s been in a coma at the University of Louisville Hospital (UofLH) since that day. On Thursday, June 20, UofLH informed Marvin’s family that he would have to either be stabilized and transported to Guatemala without consent or be disconnected from life support. Marvin’s family did not consent to his transport, and while UofLH has put plans to repatriate Marvin on hold temporarily, his family is actively looking for options to transfer him to a facility where he can receive the long-term care he needs. Marvin’s family and community supporters continue to ask UofLH to:

1. Permanently take the threat of deportation off the table as an option for discharge,

2. Continue to provide Marvin with the care he needs until he can be safely transferred to a facility within the U.S., and

3. Work with the family, attorneys, and advocates to safely discharge and transfer him.

Thirty years ago, Marvin migrated to the United States from Guatemala to pursue a better life for himself and his family. He found his home in Kentucky, started a family, and found happiness and financial stability in one of the industries Kentucky holds most dear: horse racing.

It was Marvin’s love for the Bluegrass State’s favorite sport that landed him in the predicament he and his family find themselves in today. Years ago, Marvin was thrown from a horse and suffered a head injury that led to intermittent seizures in the years since.

The University of Louisville Hospital is the only level I trauma care center in the area, and is well-respected for its level of patient care, so Marvin’s injury and subsequent care should have been well in hand. But because Marvin has no health insurance and is an immigrant, UofL informed his daughter Virginia that they couldn’t provide the care he needed due to his lack of health coverage. The hospital, which reported a revenue of $1.1 billion to the IRS in 2022, claimed this was necessary to avoid the financial losses associated with the level of care needed to treat an uninsured patient. Instead, they threatened to fly Marvin to Guatemala, where he has not lived for thirty years and has no support network, in a process commonly referred to as “medical deportation.” Virginia was faced with a set of impossible choices: Consent to stabilizing treatment and risk never seeing her father again, to refuse stabilizing treatment with the understanding that it could result in his health worsening, or to disconnect him from life support. After contacting the Free Migration Project and Kentucky Equal Justice Center for help, Virginia has been assured by the hospital that Marvin’s deportation has been put on hold for the time being out of concern for his health.

This reprieve from the threat of glorified kidnapping was hard-fought, but is temporary. We need your help to make it permanent. Write to the University of Louisville Hospital’s administration and let them know that we will not allow a family in our community to be torn apart. It’s in the best interests of both Marvin and his family to remain in Kentucky, so that he can receive the best possible treatment with his family by his side.