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It was a interstate indicator that disclosed their end point: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They were transported in the cargo area of an government transport – their possessions seized and identification retained by authorities. Rosario and her two American-born children, one of whom battles stage 4 kidney cancer, had no knowledge about where authorities were directing them.

The initial encounter

The household had been taken into custody at an required meeting near New Orleans on April 24. When denied access from contacting legal counsel, which they would eventually argue in legal documents breached due process, the family was moved 200 miles to this rural town in the heart of the region.

"They never told me where I was going," the mother explained, answering inquiries about her situation for the premier instance after her family's case became public. "They instructed me that I couldn't ask questions, I asked where we were headed, but they offered no answer."

The forced departure

The 25-year-old mother, 25, and her two children were compulsorily transported to Honduras in the middle of the night the subsequent morning, from a small aviation facility in Alexandria that has transformed into a focal point for mass deportation operations. The facility houses a specialized holding facility that has been called a legal "vacuum" by legal representatives with detained individuals, and it opens immediately onto an runway area.

While the confinement area accommodates only grown men, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 females and minors have passed through the Alexandria airport on federal aircraft during the initial three months of the present government. Some individuals, like Rosario, are detained at undisclosed hotels before being deported or transferred to other confinement locations.

Hotel detention

She was unable to identify which Alexandria hotel her family was brought to. "I recall we entered through a parking area, not the primary access," she remembered.

"We were treated like captives in accommodation," Rosario said, noting: "My kids would attempt to approach the door, and the female guards would get mad."

Medical concerns

Rosario's young boy Romeo was found to have metastatic kidney disease at the age of two, which had spread to his lungs, and was receiving "regular and critical medical intervention" at a children's healthcare facility in New Orleans before his apprehension. His sister, Ruby, also a American national, was seven when she was apprehended with her family members.

Rosario "pleaded with" guards at the hotel to permit utilization of a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in legal filings. She was finally allowed one brief phone call to her father and informed him she was in Alexandria.

The after-hours locating effort

The family was roused at 2 a.m. the next morning, Rosario said, and brought straight to the airport in a van with additional detainees also detained at the hotel.

Unknown to Rosario, her legal team and supporters had conducted overnight searches to locate where the two families had been held, in an bid for legal intervention. But they remained undiscovered. The attorneys had made repeated requests to immigration authorities immediately after the arrest to prevent removal and determine her location. They had been repeatedly ignored, according to court documents.

"The Louisiana location is itself already a black hole," said a legal representative, who is providing legal counsel in ongoing litigation. "But in situations involving families, they will typically not transport them to the primary location, but place them in unidentified accommodations near the facility.

Legal arguments

At the heart of the legal action filed on behalf of Rosario and another family is the allegation that federal agencies have ignored established rules governing the handling of US citizen children with parents under removal proceedings. The guidelines state that authorities "must provide" parents "sufficient time" to make choices about the "wellbeing or relocation" of their underage dependents.

Immigration officials have not yet answered Rosario's legal assertions. The government agency did not respond to specific inquiries about the claims.

The aviation facility incident

"Upon reaching the location, it was a very empty airport," Rosario remembered. "Just immigration transports were coming in."

"There were multiple vans with more detainees," she said.

They were confined to the transport at the airport for over four hours, watching other vans approach with men chained at their hands and feet.

"That portion was distressing," she said. "My offspring 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 compelled to board an aircraft, court filings state. At roughly then, according to records, an immigration regional supervisor eventually responded to Rosario's attorney – telling them a deportation delay had been denied. Rosario said she had not consented at any point for her two American-born offspring to be sent to another country.

Legal representatives said the date of the detention may not have been coincidental. They said the appointment – rescheduled three times without reason – may have been arranged to match with a deportation flight to Honduras the next day.

"Officials apparently channel as many cases as they can toward that airport so they can fill the flight and deport them," commented a attorney.

The aftermath

The whole situation has caused permanent damage, according to the lawsuit. Rosario still experiences concerns about exploitation and abduction in Honduras.

In a earlier communication, the government department stated that Rosario "decided" to bring her children to the required meeting in April, and was asked if she wanted authorities to assign the kids with someone protected. The department also claimed that Rosario chose to be deported with her children.

Ruby, who was couldn't finish her academic term in the US, is at risk of "academic regression" and is "undergoing serious mental health issues", according to the legal proceedings.

Romeo, who has now become five years old, was denied vital and necessary healthcare in Honduras. He briefly returned to the US, without his mother, to proceed with therapy.

"Romeo's deteriorating health and the halt in his therapy have caused Rosario substantial worry and emotional turmoil," the legal action alleges.

*Names of people involved have been changed.