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The revelation came from a interstate indicator that disclosed their ultimate location: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They traveled in the back of an government transport – their possessions taken and travel documents not returned. The mother and her two American-born children, including a child who faces metastatic kidney disease, had no knowledge about where federal agents were directing them.

The initial encounter

The family unit had been taken into custody at an federal appointment near New Orleans on April 24. When denied access from speaking with their lawyer, which they would subsequently allege in court filings breached due process, the family was transported 200 miles to this modest settlement in central Louisiana.

"They never told me where I was going," she recounted, providing details about her ordeal for the premier instance after her family's case gained attention. "I was told that I shouldn't inquire, I asked where we were headed, but they didn't respond."

The deportation procedure

Rosario, 25, and her two children were involuntarily deported to Honduras in the early morning hours the following day, from a regional airfield in Alexandria that has become a center for mass deportation operations. The site houses a specialized holding facility that has been called a legal "void" by attorneys with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an airport tarmac.

While the holding center contains solely male adults, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 females and minors have traveled via the Alexandria airport on government charter flights during the first 100 days of the existing leadership. Certain people, like Rosario, are detained at secret lodging before being sent abroad or moved to other detention sites.

Temporary confinement

Rosario could not recall which Alexandria hotel her family was brought to. "My recollection is we came in through a garage entrance, not the main entrance," she remembered.

"Our situation resembled detainees in lodging," Rosario said, adding: "The young ones would try to go toward the door, and the women officers would show irritation."

Medical concerns

Rosario's young boy Romeo was identified with stage 4 kidney cancer at the age of two, which had metastasized to his lungs, and was receiving "ongoing and essential cancer care" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his detention by authorities. His sister, Ruby, also a American national, was seven when she was apprehended with her family members.

Rosario "implored" guards at the hotel to permit utilization of a telephone the night the family was there, she stated in official complaints. She was eventually permitted one limited communication to her father and notified him she was in Alexandria.

The nighttime investigation

The family was awakened at 2 a.m. the following morning, Rosario said, and transported immediately to the airport in a van with additional detainees also detained at the hotel.

Without her knowledge, her attorneys and supporters had conducted overnight searches to locate where the two families had been detained, in an attempt to obtain legal assistance. But they remained undiscovered. The attorneys had made repeated requests to immigration authorities following the apprehension to stop the transfer and find her position. They had been consistently disregarded, according to legal filings.

"The Louisiana location is itself essentially a void," said an immigration advocate, who is representing Rosario in active court cases. "However, when dealing involving families, they will often not take them to the primary location, but place them in secret lodging near the facility.

Legal arguments

At the heart of the legal action filed on behalf of Rosario and additional plaintiffs is the claim that immigration authorities have ignored established rules governing the handling of US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The policies state that authorities "should afford" parents "a reasonable opportunity" to make choices about the "wellbeing or relocation" of their minor children.

Government agencies have not yet responded to Rosario's allegations legally. The government agency did not respond to comprehensive queries about the allegations.

The terminal ordeal

"When we arrived, it was a largely vacant terminal," Rosario recalled. "Exclusively removal vans were coming in."

"Several vehicles were present with other mothers and children," she said.

They were kept in the van at the airport for over four hours, seeing other transports come with men chained at their wrists and ankles.

"That portion was upsetting," she said. "My children kept asking why everyone was shackled hand and foot ... if they were wrongdoers. I explained it was just normal protocol."

The aircraft boarding

The family was then made to enter an aircraft, legal documents state. At around this period, according to filings, an immigration regional supervisor ultimately answered to Rosario's attorney – notifying them a stay of removal had been denied. Rosario said she had not agreed ever for her two American-born offspring to be deported abroad.

Advocates said the timing of the arrests may not have been random. They said the appointment – changed multiple times without explanation – may have been arranged to match with a removal aircraft to Honduras the subsequent day.

"Authorities appear to funnel as many cases as they can toward that facility so they can fill the flight and send them out," explained a legal advocate.

The aftermath

The whole situation has resulted in permanent damage, according to the court case. Rosario continues to live with anxiety regarding threats and illegal detention in Honduras.

In a previously released statement, the federal agency asserted that Rosario "chose" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was asked if she wanted authorities to relocate the minors with someone safe. The agency also stated that Rosario decided on removal with her children.

Ruby, who was didn't complete her educational period in the US, is at risk of "learning setbacks" and is "undergoing serious emotional difficulties", according to the legal proceedings.

Romeo, who has now turned five, was denied specialized and life-saving medical treatment in Honduras. He temporarily visited the US, without his mother, to proceed with therapy.

"The boy's worsening medical status and the interruption of his care have created for the mother substantial worry and emotional turmoil," the legal action alleges.

*Names of individuals have been changed.