Luis Leon, 82, lost his wallet which contained his green card issued in 1987 after receiving asylum from Chile post-torture. He went with his wife to an immigration office in Philadelphia for a replacement. From there, he was disappeared.
Until Saturday, the last time family had seen Leon was June 20, after he and his wife went to the Philadelphia office to replace Leon’s lost green card, Nataly said. As they waited in a second-floor room, Leon’s wife told family members, he was placed in handcuffs by two officers and escorted out.
She was left behind, spending 10 hours in a room until she was finally released to her granddaughter. No one from the government ever told the family why, or where, Leon was taken, Nataly said.
Leon told Nataly his phone was taken away and that when he demanded information, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — who addressed him and several other detainees on the bus as “Mario” — said Leon had no rights in the United States....
...According to Nataly, a Chilean government contact of Leon’s brother was able to reach an official here who told him Leon had been taken to Minnesota, then to Guatemala. It isn’t clear if that official was from ICE or another government agency. Leon fled Chile in 1987 to escape the dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet.
It’s also unclear whether Leon had a deportation hearing before he was sent to Guatemala, which has an agreement with the U.S. to accept deportees from other nations.
Deportees typically arrive for processing at La Aurora Air Force Base in Guatemala City and are then sent to temporary shelters.
Nataly said she isn’t sure where her grandfather spent the time between his arrival and his hospitalization because her time with him has been limited.
He told her he tried to contact his family but, because he didn’t have his phone, couldn’t provide phone numbers.
