Doctors fight to stay in U.S.

HOUSTON – Two doctors in Houston went into a hearing Thursday afternoon to fight to stay in the United States with their two children who are U.S. citizens and with their patients.

Dr. Monika Ummat said, "They are sick patients who are on sometimes 10, five, seven epilepsy medicines.  These are disabled kids."

Ummat treats children with epilepsy at Texas Childrens Hospital. 

She worried about their fate if she and her husband, who is also a doctor, are forced to leave the country and go back to their native India. 

They were in the United States on work visas, but when they traveled back to the United states after visiting his terminally ill father in India, they found out their travel documents had expired.

Ummat said, "We traveled to India not realizing. this was in October. not realizing that our travel document was expired. 

But also there was a big stamp on the travel document stating active and valid until July 2017."

She said the document actually expired in July of 2016. 

Since last fall, they have worked to fix the problem and waited for approval. Wednesday, they said,  they were told everything was OK, then it was not.

Dr. Pankaj Satija said, "Three officers came back and said, sorry things have changed for the worse.  

Somebody up there, they called him the chief, the chief has decided that you have to actually leave the country in the next 24 hours."

Late Thursday afternoon, the doctors learned they could stay for an additional 90 days on a humanitarian extension.  

Their attorney, Gordon Quan, said he will now work for approval of the paperwork that would fully reinstate the couple. 

Both said they have filed paperwork to become U.S. citizens.