Ice secretly expelled the grandfather of Pennsylvania, 82, after losing the green card | US immigration
An 82 -year -old man in Pennsylvania was secretly expelled to Guatemala after visiting an immigration office last month to replace his lost green card, according to his family, who has not heard of him since and was initially informed that he was dead.
According to Morning Call, who pointed out the story for the first time, the long -standing resident of Allentown, Luis Leon – who obtained political asylum in the United States in 1987 after being tortured under the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet – lost his portfolio containing the physical card that confirmed his legal residence. So he and his wife made an appointment to replace him.
When he arrived at the office on June 20, however, he was handcuffed by two immigration and customs application officers (ICE), who removed him from his wife without explanation, she said. She herself was held in the building for 10 hours until relatives come to pick her up.
The family said they made efforts to find information about their fate but learned nothing.
Then, some time after Leon’s detention, a woman claiming to be an immigration lawyer called the family, saying that she could help – but did not reveal how she knew the business or where Leon was.
On July 9, according to Leon’s granddaughter, the same woman called them again, saying Leon had died.
A week later, however, they discovered with a parent in Chile that Leon was alive after all – but now in a hospital in Guatemala, a country in which he has no connection.
According to Morning Call, the parent said that Leon was first sent to an immigration detention center in Minnesota before being expelled to Guatemala – although he does not appear on ice expulsion lists.
The ice Monday evening refuted the story of the morning, calling that a hoax.
Morning Call said that he had on several occasions the confirmation and the details of the ice throughout his reports. Morning Call also said that they had been initiated into the family during a courthouse demonstration of Lehigh County against ICE operations.
They noted that the alleged family ceased to respond to their clarification requests on Monday, and they could not check the details in Guatemala.
A recent decision of the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could expel immigrants to other countries alongside their country of origin.
During his almost 40 years of life in the United States, Leon spent his career working in a leather manufacturing plant and raised a family. He had since retired.
His condition at the Guatemala hospital is unknown. He suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, according to his family, who said they were planning to fly to Guatemala to see him.
An ice official declared to the morning call that he was investigating the issue. Guatemala Migration Institute denied that Leon was expelled from the United States to Guatemala.
The morning call reported on Sunday that Leon was recovering from pneumonia in Guatemala, according to his family, and that he arrived in the city of Guatemala on July 1. According to the family, his phone reported in the morning was kidnapped and the ice officers continued to refer to him and other prisoners like “Mario”.
