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They discovered their location through a highway exit sign that unveiled their ultimate location: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They were transported in the rear compartment of an government transport – their possessions confiscated and travel documents not returned. Rosario and her US citizen offspring, one of whom is fighting stage 4 kidney cancer, had no knowledge about where federal agents were transporting them.

The initial encounter

The household had been taken into custody at an immigration check-in near New Orleans on April 24. Following restrictions from contacting legal counsel, which they would eventually argue in court filings 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," the mother explained, providing details about her situation for the premier instance after her family's case gained attention. "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 involuntarily deported to Honduras in the early morning hours the subsequent morning, from a small aviation facility in Alexandria that has emerged as a hub for large-scale removal programs. The location houses a unique detention center that has been described as a legal "vacuum" by lawyers with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an runway area.

While the holding center accommodates only adult male detainees, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 mothers and children have traveled via the Alexandria airport on immigration transports during the first 100 days of the current administration. Some individuals, like Rosario, are detained at secret lodging before being removed from the country or moved to other detention sites.

Hotel detention

She was unable to identify which Alexandria hotel her family was directed toward. "I just remember we came in through a parking area, not the front door," she remembered.

"We felt like captives in accommodation," Rosario said, adding: "The young ones would attempt to approach the door, and the female guards would get mad."

Treatment disruptions

The mother's young boy Romeo was found to have advanced renal carcinoma at the age of two, which had reached his lungs, and was receiving "consistent and vital life-saving cancer treatment" at a children's healthcare facility in New Orleans before his arrest. His sister, Ruby, also a citizen of the United States, was seven when she was detained with her family members.

Rosario "begged" guards at the hotel to grant access to a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in official complaints. She was finally allowed one limited communication to her father and notified him she was in Alexandria.

The nighttime investigation

The family was woken up at 2 a.m. the following morning, Rosario said, and transported immediately to the airport in a transport vehicle with other individuals also confined in the hotel.

Unbeknownst to the mother, her attorneys and supporters had conducted overnight searches to identify where the two families had been kept, in an effort to secure legal assistance. But they were not located. The legal representatives had made multiple applications to immigration authorities following the detention to prevent removal and establish her whereabouts. They had been repeatedly ignored, according to official records.

"This processing center is itself essentially a void," said a legal representative, who is representing Rosario in current legal proceedings. "But in situations involving families, they will typically not transport them to the facility itself, but put them in unidentified accommodations in proximity.

Legal arguments

At the core of the litigation filed on behalf of Rosario and additional plaintiffs is the claim that federal agencies have breached internal policies governing the handling of US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The directives state that authorities "are required to grant" parents "adequate chance" to make choices about the "care or travel" of their underage dependents.

Immigration officials have not yet addressed Rosario's legal assertions. The Department of Homeland Security did not answer specific inquiries about the assertions.

The airport experience

"Once we got there, it was a mostly deserted facility," Rosario stated. "Exclusively removal vans were coming in."

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

They were held in the vehicle at the airport for an extended period, watching other vehicles arrive with men restrained at their wrists and ankles.

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

The plane journey

The family was then made to enter an aircraft, court filings state. At around this period, according to records, an immigration field office director finally replied to Rosario's attorney – notifying them a removal halt had been rejected. Rosario said she had not consented at any point for her two American-born offspring to be deported abroad.

Advocates said the scheduling of the apprehension may not have been random. They said the meeting – changed multiple times without reason – may have been arranged to match with a transport plane to Honduras the following day.

"They seem to direct as many individuals as they can toward that facility so they can populate the aircraft and deport them," explained a attorney.

The aftermath

The entire experience has resulted in permanent damage, according to the lawsuit. Rosario still experiences fear of extortion and illegal detention in Honduras.

In a earlier communication, the government department claimed that Rosario "elected" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was inquired whether she preferred authorities to relocate the minors with someone secure. The organization also asserted that Rosario chose to be deported with her children.

Ruby, who was unable to complete her educational period in the US, is at risk of "learning setbacks" and is "experiencing significant mental health issues", according to the court documents.

Romeo, who has now become five years old, was could not obtain specialized and life-saving medical treatment in Honduras. He temporarily visited the US, without his mother, to resume care.

"The child's declining condition and the disruption to his treatment have caused Rosario tremendous anxiety and psychological pain," the lawsuit claims.

*Names of family members have been modified.