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It was a roadway marker that revealed their end point: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They were transported in the rear compartment of an federal transport truck – their personal belongings confiscated and travel documents not returned. The mother and her two American-born children, one of whom faces stage 4 kidney cancer, lacked information about where immigration officials were directing them.

The apprehension

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

"Our location remained undisclosed," she recounted, responding to questions about her ordeal for the initial occasion after her family's case gained attention. "I was told that I couldn't ask questions, I asked where we were headed, but they offered no answer."

The deportation procedure

The 25-year-old mother, 25, and her minor children were forcibly removed to Honduras in the pre-dawn period the following day, from a small aviation facility in Alexandria that has transformed into a focal point for mass deportation operations. The facility houses a unique detention center that has been described as a legal "void" by lawyers with people held there, and it opens immediately onto an flight line.

While the detention facility contains solely grown men, leaked documents indicate at least 3,142 mothers and children have been processed at the Alexandria airport on federal aircraft during the opening period of the current administration. Some individuals, like Rosario, are detained at undisclosed hotels before being deported or moved to other confinement locations.

Hotel detention

The mother didn't remember which Alexandria hotel her family was brought to. "I recall we entered through a garage entrance, not the primary access," she stated.

"Our situation resembled prisoners in a room," Rosario said, noting: "My kids would try to go toward the door, and the female guards would show irritation."

Health issues

Rosario's four-year-old son Romeo was found to have stage 4 kidney cancer at the age of two, which had reached his lungs, and was receiving "consistent and vital medical intervention" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his arrest. His female sibling, 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 permit utilization of a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in legal filings. She was finally allowed one short conversation 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 taken directly to the airport in a government vehicle with another family also detained at the hotel.

Unbeknownst to the mother, her attorneys and representatives had looked extensively after hours to locate where the two families had been detained, in an bid for legal assistance. But they were not located. The lawyers had made repeated requests to immigration authorities right after the arrest to block the deportation and determine her location. They had been consistently disregarded, according to official records.

"The Alexandria staging facility is itself already a black hole," said an immigration advocate, who is representing Rosario in active court cases. "But in situations involving families, they will typically not transport them to the facility itself, but place them in undisclosed hotel rooms close by.

Judicial contentions

At the heart of the legal action filed on behalf of Rosario and another family is the assertion that federal agencies have violated their own regulations governing the treatment of US citizen children with parents facing removal. The guidelines state that authorities "are required to grant" parents "adequate chance" to make decisions regarding the "care or travel" of their young offspring.

Immigration officials have not yet responded to Rosario's allegations legally. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to comprehensive queries about the claims.

The terminal ordeal

"Upon reaching the location, it was a mostly deserted facility," Rosario recalled. "Only deportation vehicles were coming in."

"Several vehicles were present with more detainees," she said.

They were kept in the van at the airport for four and a half hours, seeing other vans approach with men chained at their limbs.

"That segment was upsetting," she said. "My children kept questioning why everyone was chained hand and foot ... if they were criminals. I said it was just normal protocol."

The plane journey

The family was then compelled to board an aircraft, official records state. At approximately this time, according to filings, an immigration regional supervisor eventually responded to Rosario's attorney – notifying them a removal halt had been denied. Rosario said she had not agreed ever for her two American-born offspring to be deported abroad.

Legal representatives said the timing of the arrests may not have been coincidental. They said the check-in – rescheduled three times without reason – may have been arranged to match with a removal aircraft to Honduras the subsequent day.

"They seem to direct as many cases as they can toward that airport so they can occupy the plane and remove them," stated a legal advocate.

The ongoing impact

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

In a earlier communication, the Department of Homeland Security asserted that Rosario "decided" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was inquired whether she preferred authorities to place the children with someone protected. The organization also claimed that Rosario chose to be deported with her children.

Ruby, who was unable to complete her academic term in the US, is at risk of "academic regression" and is "undergoing serious mental health issues", according to the legal proceedings.

Romeo, who has now reached five years, was unable to access critical and essential healthcare in Honduras. He made a short trip to the US, without his mother, to proceed with therapy.

"The child's declining condition and the interruption of his care have created for the mother significant distress and emotional turmoil," the court documents state.

*Names of people involved have been altered.