An 82 year old man from Pennsylvania has been discovered in a Guatemalan hospital after being secretly deported by U.S. immigration authorities, weeks after he attended an appointment to replace his lost green card.
Luis Leon, a long-time resident of Allentown, was granted political asylum in the United States in 1987 after surviving torture under the brutal dictatorship of Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet. According to his family, Leon vanished without a trace on 20 June after visiting an immigration office to replace the green card he had lost along with his wallet.
Upon arrival at the office, Leon was reportedly handcuffed by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and taken away without explanation. His wife, who accompanied him, was detained in the building for ten hours before being allowed to leave with help from relatives.
In the days that followed, the family said they received no official communication from ICE regarding Leon’s whereabouts. Then, a woman claiming to be an immigration lawyer contacted them, offering assistance but refusing to disclose how she became aware of the case or where Leon was.
On 9 July, the same woman called again, this time to inform the family that Leon had died. However, a week later, the family received word from a relative in Chile that Leon was, in fact, alive, hospitalised in Guatemala, a country with which he has no known ties.
According to reporting by The Morning Call, Leon was first transferred to an immigration detention facility in Minnesota before being deported to Guatemala. His name did not appear on any official ICE deportation lists.
The unusual deportation may have been enabled by a recent Supreme Court ruling, which allowed the Trump-era policy of deporting immigrants to third countries, rather than solely their country of origin, to stand.
During his nearly four decades in the U.S., Leon worked in a leather manufacturing plant and raised a family. Now retired, he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and a heart condition. His current state in the Guatemalan hospital remains unknown.
Leon’s family is now preparing to fly to Guatemala to reunite with him and assess his condition.
An ICE official told The Morning Call that the agency is currently investigating the incident.
