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They discovered their location through a roadway marker that unveiled their end point: Alexandria, Louisiana.

Their journey continued in the back of an government transport – their items confiscated and identification retained by authorities. Rosario and her two American-born children, including a child who is fighting advanced renal cancer, had no knowledge about where federal agents were transporting them.

The apprehension

The family members had been detained at an immigration check-in near New Orleans on April 24. When denied access from consulting their attorney, which they would subsequently allege in court filings breached due process, the family was transported 200 miles to this rural town in the heart of the region.

"Our location remained undisclosed," she recounted, answering inquiries about her ordeal for the premier instance after her family's case gained attention. "I was told that I couldn't ask questions, I inquired about our destination, but they offered no answer."

The forced departure

Rosario, 25, and her minor children were involuntarily deported to Honduras in the early morning hours the subsequent morning, from a regional airfield in Alexandria that has emerged as a hub for mass deportation operations. The site houses a distinctive confinement area that has been referred to as a legal "black hole" by legal representatives with clients inside, and it opens immediately onto an flight line.

While the holding center contains solely male adults, confidential information indicate at least 3,142 females and minors have been processed at the Alexandria airport on federal aircraft during the opening period of the present government. Some individuals, like Rosario, are confined to secret lodging before being sent abroad or relocated to other holding facilities.

Hotel detention

Rosario could not recall which Alexandria hotel her family was brought to. "I recall we accessed via a vehicle access point, not the primary access," she stated.

"We felt like prisoners in a room," Rosario said, noting: "The children would try to go toward the door, and the women officers would get mad."

Health issues

The mother's four-year-old son Romeo was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer at the age of two, which had reached his lungs, and was receiving "ongoing and essential cancer care" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his apprehension. His sister, Ruby, also a citizen of the United States, was seven when she was detained with her mother and brother.

Rosario "pleaded with" guards at the hotel to grant access to a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in federal court documents. She was ultimately granted one brief phone call to her father and notified him she was in Alexandria.

The overnight search

The family was woken up at 2 a.m. the next morning, Rosario said, and taken directly to the airport in a van with other individuals also held at the hotel.

Unbeknownst to the mother, her lawyers and advocates had looked extensively after hours to find where the two families had been detained, in an bid for legal assistance. But they were not located. The legal representatives had made multiple applications to immigration authorities immediately after the apprehension to stop the transfer and find her position. They had been regularly overlooked, according to legal filings.

"This processing center is itself already a black hole," said an expert, who is handling the case in ongoing litigation. "But in situations involving families, they will typically not transport them to the primary location, but accommodate them at undisclosed hotel rooms close by.

Judicial contentions

At the core of the litigation filed on behalf of Rosario and other individuals is the assertion that federal agencies have violated their own regulations governing the treatment of US citizen children with parents facing removal. The policies state that authorities "must provide" parents "sufficient time" to make decisions regarding the "care or travel" of their young offspring.

Federal authorities have not yet responded to Rosario's claims in court. The federal department did not answer detailed questions about the claims.

The terminal ordeal

"When we arrived, it was a very empty airport," Rosario recalled. "Exclusively removal vans were arriving."

"There were multiple vans with additional families," she said.

They were kept in the van at the airport for over four hours, watching other vans approach with men chained at their hands and feet.

"That segment was upsetting," she said. "My offspring kept asking why everyone was restrained hand and foot ... if they were bad people. I said it was just part of the process."

The plane journey

The family was then made to enter an aircraft, legal documents state. At roughly then, according to filings, an immigration local official eventually responded to Rosario's attorney – telling them a stay of removal had been rejected. 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 meeting – postponed repeatedly without explanation – may have been timed to coincide with a deportation flight 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 remove them," stated a representative.

The ongoing impact

The complete ordeal has resulted in lasting consequences, according to the lawsuit. Rosario persistently faces fear of extortion and abduction in Honduras.

In a earlier communication, the government department claimed that Rosario "decided" to bring her children to the required meeting in April, and was questioned about authorities to assign the kids with someone safe. The agency 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 "educational decline" and is "facing substantial emotional difficulties", according to the litigation.

Romeo, who has now become five years old, was unable to access vital and necessary medical care in Honduras. He made a short trip to the US, without his mother, to resume care.

"The child's declining condition and the halt in his therapy have caused Rosario tremendous anxiety and psychological pain," the legal action alleges.

*Names of individuals have been modified.