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They discovered their location through a interstate indicator that revealed their end point: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They were transported in the rear compartment of an immigration enforcement vehicle – their possessions seized and passports not returned. The mother and her two children with citizenship, one of whom faces metastatic kidney disease, lacked information about where immigration officials 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 contacting legal counsel, which they would subsequently allege in court filings ignored legal protections, the family was transported 200 miles to this modest settlement in the state's interior.

"They never told me where I was going," Rosario stated, providing details about her experience for the initial occasion after her family's case received coverage. "I was told that I couldn't ask questions, I asked where we were headed, but they offered no answer."

The deportation procedure

The 25-year-old mother, 25, and her young offspring were forcibly removed to Honduras in the middle of the night the next day, from a small aviation facility in Alexandria that has emerged as a hub for extensive immigration enforcement. The site houses a unique detention center that has been called a legal "vacuum" by attorneys with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an runway area.

While the confinement area holds exclusively adult male detainees, obtained records indicate at least 3,142 mothers and children have traveled via the Alexandria airport on federal aircraft during the first 100 days of the present government. Various detainees, like Rosario, are detained at unidentified accommodations before being removed from the country or relocated to other holding facilities.

Temporary confinement

She was unable to identify which Alexandria hotel her family was brought to. "I recall we came in through a garage entrance, not the front door," she stated.

"We were treated like detainees in lodging," Rosario said, explaining: "The young ones would attempt to approach the door, and the female guards would show irritation."

Medical concerns

The mother's four-year-old son Romeo was found to have stage 4 kidney cancer at the age of two, which had metastasized to his lungs, and was receiving "regular and critical medical intervention" at a children's healthcare facility in New Orleans before his detention by authorities. 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 allow her to use a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in federal court documents. She was finally allowed one limited communication to her father and told him she was in Alexandria.

The after-hours locating effort

The family was awakened at 2 a.m. the next morning, Rosario said, and brought straight to the airport in a transport vehicle with another family also detained at the hotel.

Without her knowledge, her lawyers and representatives had searched throughout the night to identify where the two families had been held, in an bid for legal action. But they remained undiscovered. The lawyers had made numerous petitions to immigration authorities immediately after the apprehension to prevent removal and determine her location. They had been regularly overlooked, according to official records.

"This processing center is itself essentially a void," said a legal representative, who is providing legal counsel in active court cases. "However, when dealing involving families, they will typically not transport them to the primary location, but place them in secret lodging close by.

Legal arguments

At the center of the lawsuit filed on behalf of Rosario and other individuals is the assertion that immigration authorities have ignored established rules governing the handling of US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The directives state that authorities "are required to grant" parents "a reasonable opportunity" to make choices about the "welfare or movement" of their underage dependents.

Government agencies have not yet responded to Rosario's legal assertions. The federal department did not respond to specific inquiries about the allegations.

The terminal ordeal

"When we arrived, it was a largely vacant terminal," Rosario remembered. "Only deportation vehicles were coming in."

"Several vehicles were present with more detainees," she said.

They were confined to the transport at the airport for over four hours, observing other vehicles arrive with men restrained at their limbs.

"That segment was distressing," she said. "The kids kept asking why everyone was chained hand and foot ... if they were criminals. I told them it was just normal protocol."

The flight departure

The family was then compelled to board an aircraft, legal documents state. At roughly then, according to filings, an immigration regional supervisor eventually responded 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.

Legal representatives said the timing of the arrests may not have been random. They said the meeting – changed multiple times without explanation – may have been timed to coincide with a transport plane to Honduras the next day.

"Authorities appear to funnel as many individuals as they can toward that airport so they can populate the aircraft and deport them," explained a attorney.

The aftermath

The entire experience has led to irreparable harm, according to the court case. Rosario still experiences anxiety regarding threats and kidnapping in Honduras.

In a prior announcement, the federal agency claimed that Rosario "chose" to bring her children to the immigration check-in in April, and was asked if she wanted authorities to relocate the minors with someone secure. The organization also claimed that Rosario chose to be deported with her children.

Ruby, who was didn't complete her school year in the US, is at risk of "educational decline" and is "experiencing significant mental health issues", according to the legal proceedings.

Romeo, who has now reached five years, was unable to access critical and essential medical treatment in Honduras. He temporarily visited the US, without his mother, to resume care.

"The boy's worsening medical status and the disruption to his treatment have created for the mother substantial worry and psychological pain," the court documents state.

*Names of individuals have been modified.