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

They traveled in the cargo area of an federal transport truck – their personal belongings taken and identification not returned. Rosario and her two American-born children, one of whom battles metastatic kidney disease, lacked information about where authorities were directing them.

The initial encounter

The household had been taken into custody at an federal appointment near New Orleans on April 24. Following restrictions from speaking with their lawyer, which they would subsequently allege in official complaints breached due process, the family was moved 200 miles to this rural town in the state's interior.

"Our location remained undisclosed," Rosario stated, providing details about her experience for the premier instance after her family's case received coverage. "I was told that I shouldn't inquire, I inquired about our destination, but they didn't respond."

The removal process

Rosario, 25, and her young offspring were forcibly removed to Honduras in the early morning hours the next day, from a rural airport in Alexandria that has emerged as a hub for extensive immigration enforcement. The location houses a distinctive confinement area that has been described as a legal "void" by attorneys with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an flight line.

While the detention facility holds exclusively grown men, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 females and minors have been processed at the Alexandria airport on immigration transports during the initial three months of the present government. Some individuals, like Rosario, are detained at undisclosed hotels before being deported or moved to other detention sites.

Hotel detention

The mother didn't remember which Alexandria hotel her family was taken to. "My recollection is we entered through a vehicle access point, not the main entrance," she recalled.

"We felt like detainees in lodging," Rosario said, explaining: "My kids would move closer to the door, and the female guards would become angry."

Medical concerns

The mother'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 life-saving cancer treatment" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his detention by authorities. His female sibling, Ruby, also a American national, was seven when she was taken into custody with her family members.

Rosario "begged" guards at the hotel to permit utilization of a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in official complaints. She was finally allowed one short conversation to her father and notified him she was in Alexandria.

The after-hours locating effort

The family was woken up at 2 a.m. the following morning, Rosario said, and taken directly to the airport in a transport vehicle with additional detainees also detained at the hotel.

Unknown to Rosario, her legal team and advocates had searched throughout the night to identify where the two families had been detained, in an effort to secure legal assistance. But they remained undiscovered. The attorneys had made numerous petitions to immigration authorities following the arrest to prevent removal and determine her location. They had been repeatedly ignored, according to official records.

"The Alexandria staging facility is itself fundamentally opaque," said an expert, who is representing Rosario in ongoing litigation. "But in situations involving families, they will typically not transport them to the main center, but place them in secret lodging in proximity.

Court claims

At the core of the litigation filed on behalf of Rosario and additional plaintiffs is the claim that federal agencies have violated their own regulations governing the care for US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The guidelines state that authorities "are required to grant" parents "a reasonable opportunity" to make determinations concerning the "wellbeing or relocation" of their young offspring.

Immigration officials have not yet addressed Rosario's legal assertions. The federal department did not answer detailed questions about the claims.

The terminal ordeal

"Once we got there, it was a mostly deserted facility," Rosario remembered. "Exclusively removal vans were arriving."

"Several vehicles were present with additional families," she said.

They were held in the vehicle at the airport for over four hours, observing other vehicles arrive with men shackled at their limbs.

"That portion was traumatic," she said. "My children kept questioning why everyone was shackled hand and foot ... if they were bad people. I told them it was just normal protocol."

The plane journey

The family was then made to enter an aircraft, court filings state. At roughly then, according to documents, an immigration local official ultimately answered to Rosario's attorney – notifying them a deportation delay had been rejected. Rosario said she had not consented at any point for her two citizen minors to be removed to Honduras.

Advocates said the timing of the arrests may not have been accidental. They said the check-in – changed multiple times without justification – may have been scheduled to align with a deportation flight to Honduras the subsequent day.

"Authorities appear to funnel as many individuals as they can toward that facility so they can fill the flight and send them out," explained a representative.

The consequences

The complete ordeal has resulted in lasting consequences, according to the legal action. Rosario continues to live with anxiety regarding threats and abduction in Honduras.

In a previously released statement, the federal agency stated that Rosario "chose" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was asked if she wanted authorities to relocate the minors with someone safe. The organization also claimed that Rosario elected departure with her children.

Ruby, who was couldn't finish her academic term in the US, is at risk of "educational decline" and is "undergoing serious emotional difficulties", according to the litigation.

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

"The child's declining condition and the halt in his therapy have caused Rosario significant distress and mental suffering," the lawsuit claims.

*Names of family members have been modified.