<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/ice-secretly-deported-grandfather>
"An 82-year-old man in Pennsylvania was secretly deported to Guatemala after
visiting an immigration office last month to replace his lost green card,
according to his family, who have not heard from him since and were initially
told he was dead.
According to
Morning Call, which first reported the story, long-time
Allentown resident Luis Leon – who was granted political asylum in the US in
1987 after being tortured under the regime of the Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet – lost his wallet containing the physical card that confirmed his
legal residency. So he and wife booked an appointment to get it replaced.
When he arrived at the office on 20 June, however, he was handcuffed by two
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, who led him away from his
wife without explanation, she said. She herself was kept in the building for 10
hours until relatives picked her up.
The family said they made efforts to find any information on his whereabouts
but learned nothing.
Then, sometime after Leon was detained, a woman purporting to be an immigration
lawyer called the family, claiming she could help – but did not disclose how
she knew about the case, or where Leon was.
On 9 July, according to Leon’s granddaughter, the same woman called them again,
claiming Leon had died.
A week later, however, they discovered from a relative in Chile that Leon was
alive after all – but now in a hospital in Guatemala, a country to which he has
no connection.
According to
Morning Call, the relative said Leon had first been sent to an
immigration detention center in Minnesota before being deported to Guatemala –
despite not appearing on any Ice detention deportation lists."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
