Mother of teen battling leukemia reunited with daughter after getting temporary waiver to come to US

DURHAM, N.C. -- The mother of a young teenager who is battling leukemia alone at Duke University Hospital has been reunited with her daughter after a temporary waiver to come to the US.

ABC previously reported that Ixcell Sandoval Perez's mother was stuck in Mexico and could not get into the country.

Ixcell was living in Chiapas, Mexico when she was diagnosed.

Her mother traveled to the U.S. border at San Ysidro and was planning to take her to Raleigh, where Ixcell was born, so she could receive medical treatment.

But when they arrived at the border in Tijuana, Mexico, they were denied entry into the United States.

"They took everything away from us," said Ixcell's mother, Dalia, in a video produced by Solidarity Now, a group that advocates for the protection of human rights on the U.S. southern border. "They took us into a room. In the afternoon, they left us in a cold room, but it was so cold, and my daughter was feeling so sick. I pounded on the door and shouted for them to open it, but no. My child was so thirsty, but no one would listen to me."

According to advocates, a relative living in the United States eventually came to bring Ixcell across the border. Dalia was not allowed entry, and despite several tries has not been able to visit her sick daughter.

"It's not easy to be here without her," Ixcell said in a video produced from Duke University Hospital where she's being treated. "It's not easy to have her so far away."

On Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that Dalia Perez was previously denied a U.S. non-immigrant Visa due to past immigration violations resulting in a 10-year ban on re-entering the United States.

The CBP said those violations were related to her being in the country illegally on more than one occasion.

According to the CBP, Dalia reapplied for admission at the San Ysidro port of entry on August 27 and was granted a temporary humanitarian waiver.

Humanitarian parole is used to bring people who would otherwise not be allowed in the country to the U.S. because of an emergency.

It's unclear how long she will be in the United States.