Woman Granted Last Wish for Son’s Visa Dies

Sonia Siguenza, the terminally ill woman whose final wish was granted when the Immigration and Naturalization Service issued an emergency visa to allow her son to visit her from El Salvador, died Monday at Western Medical Center here.

Siguenza’s husband, Israel Siguenza, was with his wife Sunday night, as he has been almost every night in the 2 1/2 months she has been in the intensive care unit.

“I told her she had beautiful eyes, and she opened her eyes for me, and I kissed her and said goodby,” he said. “It was time. She was already tired.”

Sonia Siguenza, 25, a native of El Salvador, contracted an infectious blood disease almost two years ago. When she learned she would probably not get better, she asked for a final visit with her 9-year-old son, Walter, whom the couple had sent back to El Salvador to live with grandparents when she grew too weak to care for him.

Fulfilling the wish proved difficult for Israel Siguenza, as he was turned down by one official after another. Although Siguenza, a car salesman in Costa Mesa, is a legal resident, his son is not because he had lived in the United States only a short time.

Sonia Siguenza’s physician, Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons, wrote U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who personally appealed to INS Commissioner Gene McNary in Washington. McNary arranged a “humanitarian visa” in June, allowing the boy to stay for three years.

“He cries sometimes, and he is very sad that she has died,” Siguenza said of his son. “I wish I could have done more for her, but I did what I could,” he added, his voice breaking. “We got her son here. I think she passed away happy.”