The revelation came from a interstate indicator that disclosed their final destination: Alexandria, Louisiana.
Their journey continued in the cargo area of an government transport – their items seized and identification retained by authorities. The mother and her US citizen offspring, including a child who battles metastatic kidney disease, had no knowledge about where federal agents were directing them.
The detention
The family members had been taken into custody at an federal appointment near New Orleans on April 24. Following restrictions from speaking with their lawyer, which they would eventually argue in legal documents violated their rights, the family was relocated 200 miles to this modest settlement in the heart of the region.
"I received no information about our destination," the mother explained, providing details about her situation for the first time after her family's case gained attention. "Authorities directed that I must not seek information, I inquired about our destination, but they didn't respond."
The forced departure
Rosario, 25, and her young offspring were involuntarily deported to Honduras in the middle of the night the next day, from a rural airport in Alexandria that has emerged as a hub for large-scale removal programs. The site houses a unique detention center that has been described as a legal "vacuum" by legal representatives with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an runway area.
While the holding center accommodates only grown men, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 women and children have passed through the Alexandria airport on government charter flights during the first 100 days of the current administration. Certain people, like Rosario, are detained at undisclosed hotels before being deported or moved to other confinement locations.
Temporary confinement
She was unable to identify which Alexandria hotel her family was taken to. "I just remember we came in through a parking area, not the main entrance," she recalled.
"We felt like captives in accommodation," Rosario said, adding: "The children would attempt to approach the door, and the female guards would become angry."
Health issues
Rosario's four-year-old son Romeo was identified with stage 4 kidney cancer at the age of two, which had metastasized to his lungs, and was receiving "consistent and vital cancer care" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his detention by authorities. His sister, Ruby, also a US citizen, was seven when she was taken into custody with her family members.
Rosario "implored" guards at the hotel to grant access to a telephone the night the family was there, she reported in legal filings. She was finally allowed one limited communication to her father and informed him she was in Alexandria.
The nighttime investigation
The family was woken up at 2 a.m. the following morning, Rosario said, and transported immediately to the airport in a van with another family also detained at the hotel.
Unbeknownst to the mother, her legal team and advocates had conducted overnight searches to identify where the two families had been detained, in an bid for legal intervention. But they were not located. The legal representatives had made repeated requests to immigration authorities right after the apprehension to prevent removal and establish her whereabouts. They had been consistently disregarded, according to legal filings.
"This processing center is itself already a black hole," said an expert, who is representing Rosario in current legal proceedings. "But in situations involving families, they will frequently avoid bringing to the main center, but put them in unidentified accommodations in proximity.
Legal arguments
At the heart of the legal action filed on behalf of Rosario and additional plaintiffs is the allegation that federal agencies have violated their own regulations governing the handling of US citizen children with parents under removal proceedings. The guidelines state that authorities "should afford" parents "adequate chance" to make decisions regarding the "welfare or movement" of their young offspring.
Government agencies have not yet responded to Rosario's legal assertions. The federal department did not answer specific inquiries about the assertions.
The aviation facility incident
"When we arrived, it was a mostly deserted facility," Rosario stated. "Exclusively removal vans were arriving."
"There were multiple vans with additional families," she said.
They were kept in the van at the airport for four and a half hours, seeing other vans approach with men shackled at their limbs.
"That portion was distressing," she said. "My children kept questioning why everyone was restrained hand and foot ... if they were criminals. I told them it was just standard procedure."
The flight departure
The family was then forced onto an aircraft, legal documents state. At roughly then, according to filings, an immigration field office director finally replied to Rosario's attorney – notifying them a removal halt had been denied. Rosario said she had not provided approval for her two citizen minors to be sent to another country.
Advocates said the date of the detention may not have been random. They said the appointment – changed multiple times without justification – may have been scheduled to align with a transport plane to Honduras the next day.
"Authorities appear to funnel as many cases as they can toward that facility so they can fill the flight and deport them," stated a representative.
The consequences
The whole situation has resulted in lasting consequences, according to the lawsuit. Rosario persistently faces anxiety regarding threats and kidnapping in Honduras.
In a previously released statement, the government department asserted that Rosario "chose" to bring her children to the immigration check-in in April, and was questioned about authorities to place the children with someone protected. The agency also asserted that Rosario elected departure with her children.
Ruby, who was unable to complete her educational period in the US, is at risk of "educational decline" and is "undergoing serious emotional difficulties", according to the litigation.
Romeo, who has now become five years old, was could not obtain critical and essential healthcare in Honduras. He briefly returned to the US, without his mother, to resume care.
"Romeo's deteriorating health and the halt in his therapy have caused Rosario substantial worry and emotional turmoil," the lawsuit claims.
*Names of people involved have been modified.
