Thread: Immigration Snag Keeps Kidney Recipient From Medicine

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Immigration Snag Keeps Kidney Recipient From Medicine

POSTED: 7:23 am PDT July 28, 2005

SAN ANTONIO -- A San Antonio doctor who donated a kidney to a Honduran man is again fighting for the man's life.

This time, it's because U.S. immigration officials are preventing the kidney recipient from returning to the United States before his anti-rejection drugs run out.

The transplant patient, Isaias Arita-Bueso, returned to Honduras to visit his family for two weeks. But U.S. immigration officials turned him away when he tried to board a plane back to San Antonio on June 30. They said the patient's student visa was set to expire at the end of August.

Peter Speicher is the ophthalmologist who donated his kidney last August. He's trying to get more anti-rejection medicine to the man and get him back to the United States. He said that after the ordeal of donating a kidney, he's determined to keep the man from dying because of bureaucratic red tape.

www.mysanantonio.com

Student visa is denied for kidney patient
Web Posted: 07/29/2005 12:00 AM CDT

Amy Dorsett
Express-News Staff Writer

A Honduran man fighting to return to San Antonio for life-sustaining drugs to keep his transplanted kidney healthy was denied the renewal of his visa on Thursday, setting the stage for a dramatic set of events that will now be needed to keep him alive.

Already, Isaias Arita-Bueso, 24, has beaten the odds, having received a new kidney last summer from a San Antonio doctor he befriended as a tour guide in his home country. More recently, he secured an unusual, last-minute appointment to apply for a visa renewal that would allow him to return to the United States.

But on Thursday morning, following an interview with the American consul general in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, Arita-Bueso's request was denied. The apparent reason was that, when asked what he planned to do after finishing school, he replied that he needed to stay in the United States.

"I can't understand, I'm very confused," said Arita-Bueso by telephone Thursday afternoon. "My doctor told me I need to be in the United States for my medication."

But State Department regulations mandate that student visas are good only during the time of study, which didn't leave the consul general many options when considering Arita-Bueso's application, said O'Lene Stone, district director for the local office of U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.

Smith and his office were instrumental in winning Arita-Bueso a quick interview for visa renewal.

Because Arita-Bueso has already announced his intention to stay in the United States on a permanent basis, Stone said the only other option would be to ask the consul general to reconsider his decision.

Last August, Arita-Bueso was given a new kidney by Dr. Peter Speicher, a San Antonio ophthalmologist who befriended him.

The two deepened their friendship after meeting in Honduras by corresponding for two years and Speicher decided to bring Arita-Bueso to the United States for his education.

Speicher, upset by the bureaucracy that has kept Arita-Bueso from returning, is prepared to fly to Honduras today with an extra stash of medication.

"It's beyond me that he'd not be able to continue his education and stay alive â€â€