Illegal immigrant family will bury transplant teen in U.S.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The teenager who died after a botched transplant will be buried in the United States because her illegal immigrant parents fear they will barred from returning to this country if they hold a funeral in their native Mexico, a family spokeswoman said Thursday.

The family of Jesica Santillan made the decision after consulting with an immigration lawyer, said Renee McCormick, a spokeswoman for a foundation created to pay Jesica's medical bills.

Magdalena Santillan and Melecio Huerta paid smugglers to bring them and their three children into the United States four years ago to get better medical care for Jesica, who was born with a deformed heart.

Jesica, 17, had been on a waiting list for a transplant for three years before she was mistakenly given a heart and lungs of the wrong blood type Feb. 7 at Duke University Medical Center. A second transplant was performed, but Jesica suffered brain damage and died Saturday.

Her parents want to remain in the United States while they consider legal action against Duke, but they also had hoped to return to their hometown near Guadalajara to bury Jesica.

They sought help from the Mexican consul in Raleigh and the office of Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., but could not gain assurances that they would be allowed back into the United States if they left.

A Dole spokeswoman said the senator asked "the appropriate federal agency to review the request."

An Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman did not immediately return calls.

Hans Linnartz, an immigration lawyer in Durham not connected to the family, said he doubts the INS would deport the Santillan family, especially because the agency has been concentrating on suspected terrorist and criminal immigrants since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Every law enforcement agency has to decide where to allocate its resources. That pretty well exhausts their resources," Linnartz said.