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It was a interstate indicator that unveiled their final destination: Alexandria, Louisiana.

Their journey continued in the rear compartment of an government transport – their personal belongings taken and identification not returned. The mother and her two children with citizenship, including a child who faces advanced renal cancer, remained unaware about where federal agents were transporting them.

The initial encounter

The household had been detained at an required meeting near New Orleans on April 24. When denied access from speaking with their lawyer, which they would later claim in official complaints violated their rights, the family was transported 200 miles to this small community in the heart of the region.

"They never told me where I was going," she recounted, responding to questions about her experience for the first time after her family's case received coverage. "I was told that I shouldn't inquire, I questioned our location, but they offered no answer."

The removal process

Rosario, 25, and her young offspring were compulsorily transported to Honduras in the early morning hours the following day, from a rural airport in Alexandria that has transformed into a focal point for mass deportation operations. The location houses a distinctive confinement area that has been referred to as a legal "void" by attorneys with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an runway area.

While the confinement area accommodates only male adults, obtained records indicate at least 3,142 females and minors have traveled via the Alexandria airport on federal aircraft during the first 100 days of the existing leadership. Certain people, like Rosario, are confined to unidentified accommodations before being deported or relocated to other detention sites.

Lodging restrictions

Rosario could not recall which Alexandria hotel her family was directed toward. "I just remember we accessed via a garage entrance, not the main entrance," she stated.

"We were treated like captives in accommodation," Rosario said, noting: "My kids would move closer to the door, and the security personnel would become angry."

Medical concerns

Rosario's four-year-old son Romeo was identified with advanced renal carcinoma at the age of two, which had reached 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 citizen of the United States, was seven when she was detained with her mother and brother.

Rosario "implored" guards at the hotel to grant access to a telephone the night the family was there, she reported in official complaints. She was ultimately granted one short conversation to her father and informed him she was in Alexandria.

The nighttime investigation

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

Unbeknownst to the mother, her legal team and supporters had looked extensively after hours to identify where the two families had been kept, in an attempt to obtain legal assistance. But they remained undiscovered. The lawyers had made multiple applications to immigration authorities immediately after the apprehension to block the deportation and establish her whereabouts. They had been repeatedly ignored, according to court documents.

"The Louisiana location is itself essentially a void," said an immigration advocate, who is providing legal counsel in active court cases. "However, when dealing involving families, they will often not take them to the main center, but accommodate them at secret lodging near the facility.

Judicial contentions

At the heart of the legal action filed on behalf of Rosario and additional plaintiffs is the claim that federal agencies have violated their own regulations governing the treatment of US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The policies state that authorities "should afford" parents "a reasonable opportunity" to make decisions regarding the "wellbeing or relocation" of their underage dependents.

Federal authorities have not yet addressed Rosario's legal assertions. The Department of Homeland Security did not address specific inquiries about the claims.

The aviation facility incident

"Once we got there, it was a largely vacant terminal," Rosario stated. "Only deportation vehicles were coming in."

"There were multiple vans with other mothers and children," she said.

They were kept in the van at the airport for an extended period, seeing other transports come with men restrained at their hands and feet.

"That experience was distressing," she said. "The kids kept questioning why everyone was chained hand and foot ... if they were criminals. I said it was just standard procedure."

The flight departure

The family was then forced onto an aircraft, official records state. At roughly then, according to records, an immigration regional supervisor eventually responded to Rosario's attorney – informing them a deportation delay had been rejected. Rosario said she had not agreed ever for her two American-born offspring to be removed to Honduras.

Advocates said the timing of the arrests may not have been coincidental. They said the meeting – postponed repeatedly without justification – may have been scheduled to align with a deportation flight to Honduras the subsequent day.

"Officials apparently channel as many individuals as they can toward that location so they can occupy the plane and deport them," explained a legal advocate.

The ongoing impact

The whole situation has led to permanent damage, according to the legal action. Rosario persistently faces fear of extortion and kidnapping in Honduras.

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

Ruby, who was didn't complete her school year in the US, is at risk of "learning setbacks" and is "facing substantial mental health issues", according to the court documents.

Romeo, who has now become five years old, was denied specialized and life-saving healthcare in Honduras. He temporarily visited the US, without his mother, to continue treatment.

"The child's declining condition and the disruption to his treatment have generated for her significant distress and emotional turmoil," the lawsuit claims.

*Names of individuals have been modified.