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They discovered their location through a interstate indicator that disclosed their final destination: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They traveled in the rear compartment of an federal transport truck – their personal belongings taken and passports not returned. The mother and her two American-born children, one of whom battles metastatic kidney disease, remained unaware about where federal agents were transporting them.

The apprehension

The family unit had been detained at an federal appointment near New Orleans on April 24. When denied access from contacting legal counsel, which they would later claim in legal documents breached due process, the family was transported 200 miles to this small community in the heart of the region.

"I received no information about our destination," the mother explained, answering inquiries about her ordeal for the initial occasion after her family's case gained attention. "Authorities directed that I must not seek information, I asked where we were headed, but they offered no answer."

The deportation procedure

Rosario, 25, and her minor children were forcibly removed to Honduras in the early morning hours the next day, from a small aviation facility in Alexandria that has transformed into a focal point for large-scale removal programs. The location houses a unique detention center that has been called a legal "void" by attorneys with detained individuals, and it connects directly onto an airport tarmac.

While the holding center accommodates only male adults, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 women and children have been processed at the Alexandria airport on government charter flights during the opening period of the existing leadership. Certain people, like Rosario, are confined to undisclosed hotels before being deported or moved to other holding facilities.

Hotel detention

She was unable to identify which Alexandria hotel her family was taken to. "My recollection is we came in through a vehicle access point, not the front door," she stated.

"Our situation resembled prisoners in a room," Rosario said, adding: "The children would move closer to the door, and the women officers would show irritation."

Health issues

The mother's child Romeo was found to have advanced renal carcinoma at the age of two, which had metastasized to his lungs, and was receiving "consistent and vital life-saving cancer treatment" at a pediatric medical center in New Orleans before his arrest. His sister, Ruby, also a US citizen, was seven when she was apprehended with her relatives.

Rosario "pleaded with" guards at the hotel to allow her to use a telephone the night the family was there, she reported in official complaints. She was eventually permitted one short conversation to her father and told him she was in Alexandria.

The overnight search

The family was woken up at 2 a.m. the subsequent day, Rosario said, and brought straight to the airport in a government vehicle with other individuals also held at the hotel.

Without her knowledge, her legal team and advocates had conducted overnight searches to find where the two families had been detained, in an effort to secure legal assistance. But they remained undiscovered. The legal representatives had made multiple applications to immigration authorities following the detention to stop the transfer and find her position. They had been regularly overlooked, according to court documents.

"This processing center is itself essentially a void," said an immigration advocate, who is providing legal counsel in ongoing litigation. "Yet with cases involving families, they will typically not transport them to the primary location, but accommodate them at secret lodging close by.

Court claims

At the core of the litigation filed on behalf of Rosario and additional plaintiffs is the allegation that federal agencies have breached internal policies governing the care for US citizen children with parents under removal proceedings. The guidelines state that authorities "should afford" parents "adequate chance" to make choices about the "care or travel" of their young offspring.

Government agencies have not yet answered Rosario's claims in court. The federal department did not respond to detailed questions about the claims.

The aviation facility incident

"When we arrived, it was a very empty airport," Rosario recalled. "Only deportation vehicles were arriving."

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

They were confined to the transport at the airport for an extended period, observing other transports come with men shackled at their limbs.

"That experience was distressing," she said. "My children kept asking why everyone was shackled hand and foot ... if they were criminals. I said it was just part of the process."

The plane journey

The family was then forced onto an aircraft, official records state. At roughly then, according to records, an immigration local official eventually responded to Rosario's attorney – notifying them a stay of removal had been rejected. Rosario said she had not provided approval for her two American-born offspring to be removed to Honduras.

Advocates said the scheduling of the apprehension may not have been accidental. They said the meeting – postponed repeatedly without explanation – may have been timed to coincide with a deportation flight to Honduras the following day.

"Officials apparently channel as many cases as they can toward that location so they can fill the flight and deport them," stated a representative.

The consequences

The whole situation has caused irreparable harm, according to the legal action. Rosario still experiences fear of extortion and abduction in Honduras.

In a prior announcement, the federal agency asserted that Rosario "chose" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was questioned about authorities to assign the kids with someone secure. The organization also asserted that Rosario decided on removal with her children.

Ruby, who was unable to complete her educational period in the US, is at risk of "learning setbacks" and is "undergoing serious psychological challenges", according to the legal proceedings.

Romeo, who has now turned five, was denied specialized and life-saving medical care 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 created for the mother tremendous anxiety and emotional turmoil," the lawsuit claims.

*Names of people involved have been modified.