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They discovered their location through a roadway marker that disclosed their ultimate location: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They were transported in the cargo area of an immigration enforcement vehicle – their items taken and passports not returned. The mother and her two American-born children, one of whom is fighting metastatic kidney disease, remained unaware about where federal agents were taking them.

The initial encounter

The family unit had been detained at an federal appointment near New Orleans on April 24. After being prevented from speaking with their lawyer, which they would subsequently allege in legal documents violated their rights, the family was transported 200 miles to this modest settlement in the heart of the region.

"They never told me where I was going," she recounted, answering inquiries about her ordeal for the initial occasion after her family's case received coverage. "They instructed me that I couldn't ask questions, I inquired about our destination, but they offered no answer."

The forced departure

The 25-year-old mother, 25, and her young offspring were compulsorily transported to Honduras in the middle of the night the subsequent morning, from a rural airport in Alexandria that has emerged as a hub for extensive immigration enforcement. The site houses a distinctive confinement area that has been called a legal "void" by legal representatives with detained individuals, and it connects directly onto an flight line.

While the holding center holds exclusively adult male detainees, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 mothers and children have traveled via the Alexandria airport on government charter flights during the opening period of the current administration. Some individuals, like Rosario, are confined to undisclosed hotels before being removed from the country or moved to other detention sites.

Temporary confinement

The mother didn't remember which Alexandria hotel her family was taken to. "My recollection is we came in through a garage entrance, not the primary access," she remembered.

"We felt like prisoners in a room," Rosario said, adding: "My kids would try to go toward the door, and the security personnel would show irritation."

Medical concerns

Rosario's four-year-old son Romeo was diagnosed with metastatic kidney disease at the age of two, which had spread to his lungs, and was receiving "regular and critical cancer care" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his apprehension. His female sibling, Ruby, also a citizen of the United States, was seven when she was taken into custody with her mother and brother.

Rosario "pleaded with" guards at the hotel to permit utilization of a telephone the night the family was there, she reported in legal filings. She was eventually permitted one short conversation to her father and told him she was in Alexandria.

The overnight search

The family was awakened at 2 a.m. the subsequent day, Rosario said, and transported immediately to the airport in a transport vehicle with additional detainees also confined in the hotel.

Unbeknownst to the mother, her legal team and supporters had searched throughout the night to identify where the two families had been detained, in an effort to secure legal assistance. But they were not located. The lawyers had made numerous petitions to immigration authorities immediately after the arrest to stop the transfer and determine her location. They had been repeatedly ignored, according to legal filings.

"This processing center is itself fundamentally opaque," said an immigration advocate, who is handling the case in ongoing litigation. "Yet with cases involving families, they will frequently avoid bringing to the main center, but accommodate them at undisclosed hotel rooms in proximity.

Court claims

At the heart of the legal action filed on behalf of Rosario and another family is the assertion that government entities have violated their own regulations governing the treatment of US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The directives state that authorities "must provide" parents "adequate chance" to make choices about the "welfare or movement" of their underage dependents.

Federal authorities have not yet addressed Rosario's legal assertions. The Department of Homeland Security did not address comprehensive queries about the assertions.

The terminal ordeal

"Once we got there, it was a very empty airport," Rosario remembered. "Only deportation vehicles were pulling up."

"There were multiple vans with other mothers and children," she said.

They were held in the vehicle at the airport for over four hours, observing other vans approach with men restrained at their hands and feet.

"That portion was traumatic," she said. "My children kept inquiring about everyone was chained hand and foot ... if they were wrongdoers. I explained it was just standard procedure."

The flight departure

The family was then compelled to board an aircraft, official records state. At roughly then, according to records, an immigration field office director ultimately answered to Rosario's attorney – informing them a removal halt had been refused. Rosario said she had not agreed ever for her two US citizen children to be deported abroad.

Legal representatives said the timing of the arrests may not have been random. They said the meeting – rescheduled three times without explanation – may have been timed to coincide with a deportation flight to Honduras the following day.

"Officials apparently channel as many detainees as they can toward that facility so they can fill the flight and send them out," stated a representative.

The aftermath

The complete ordeal has led to lasting consequences, according to the legal action. Rosario still experiences anxiety regarding threats and abduction in Honduras.

In a earlier communication, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Rosario "decided" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was inquired whether she preferred authorities to relocate the minors with someone protected. The organization also claimed that Rosario chose to be deported with her children.

Ruby, who was unable to complete her school year in the US, is at risk of "learning setbacks" and is "undergoing serious psychological challenges", according to the court documents.

Romeo, who has now reached five years, was could not obtain critical and essential medical treatment in Honduras. He temporarily visited the US, without his mother, to continue treatment.

"The boy's worsening medical status and the disruption to his treatment have caused Rosario tremendous anxiety and mental suffering," the lawsuit claims.

*Names of family members have been altered.