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It was a highway exit sign that disclosed their final destination: Alexandria, Louisiana.

They were transported in the cargo area of an immigration enforcement vehicle – their possessions seized and travel documents not returned. The mother and her two children with citizenship, one of whom is fighting advanced renal cancer, had no knowledge about where federal agents were directing them.

The apprehension

The family unit had been apprehended at an federal appointment near New Orleans on April 24. Following restrictions from contacting legal counsel, which they would later claim in legal documents ignored legal protections, the family was transported 200 miles to this modest settlement in the heart of the region.

"They never told me where I was going," she recounted, responding to questions about her experience for the first time after her family's case became public. "I was told that I must not seek information, I questioned our location, but they didn't respond."

The forced departure

The 25-year-old mother, 25, and her minor children were compulsorily transported to Honduras in the early morning hours the following day, from a rural airport in Alexandria that has transformed into a focal point for large-scale removal programs. The site houses a distinctive confinement area that has been described as a legal "vacuum" by attorneys with detained individuals, and it leads straight onto an runway area.

While the detention facility contains solely male adults, obtained records indicate at least 3,142 females and minors have passed through the Alexandria airport on government charter flights during the first 100 days of the existing leadership. Various detainees, like Rosario, are confined to secret lodging before being sent abroad or transferred to other holding facilities.

Lodging restrictions

The mother didn't remember which Alexandria hotel her family was taken to. "I just remember we accessed via a vehicle access point, not the primary access," she recalled.

"We were treated like detainees in lodging," Rosario said, adding: "The young ones would move closer to the door, and the security personnel would get mad."

Medical concerns

The mother's child 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 cancer care" at a specialized children's hospital in New Orleans before his apprehension. His sister, Ruby, also a US citizen, was seven when she was taken into custody with her mother and brother.

Rosario "pleaded with" guards at the hotel to allow her to use a telephone the night the family was there, she claimed in federal court documents. She was finally allowed one limited communication to her father and told him she was in Alexandria.

The overnight search

The family was roused at 2 a.m. the subsequent day, Rosario said, and taken directly to the airport in a government vehicle with another family also held at the hotel.

Without her knowledge, her attorneys and representatives had looked extensively after hours to locate where the two families had been held, in an bid for legal action. But they were not located. The lawyers had made multiple applications to immigration authorities right after the arrest to stop the transfer and find her position. They had been regularly overlooked, according to court documents.

"This processing center is itself already a black hole," said a legal representative, who is representing Rosario in active court cases. "Yet with cases involving families, they will typically not transport them to the primary location, but place them in unidentified accommodations near the facility.

Court claims

At the core of the litigation filed on behalf of Rosario and other individuals is the allegation that immigration authorities have ignored established rules governing the care for US citizen children with parents subject to deportation. The guidelines state that authorities "must provide" parents "adequate chance" to make choices about the "care or travel" of their young offspring.

Government agencies have not yet answered Rosario's claims in court. The government agency did not answer detailed questions about the allegations.

The airport experience

"Once we got there, it was a mostly deserted facility," Rosario remembered. "Only deportation vehicles were arriving."

"There were multiple vans with more detainees," she said.

They were held in the vehicle at the airport for over four hours, observing other vans approach with men shackled at their hands and feet.

"That segment was upsetting," she said. "My offspring kept asking why everyone was restrained hand and foot ... if they were criminals. I explained it was just normal protocol."

The plane journey

The family was then forced onto an aircraft, court filings state. At approximately this time, according to documents, an immigration regional supervisor eventually responded to Rosario's attorney – telling them a stay of removal had been denied. Rosario said she had not agreed ever for her two US citizen children to be removed to Honduras.

Legal representatives said the timing of the arrests may not have been accidental. They said the check-in – postponed repeatedly without reason – may have been timed to coincide with a removal aircraft to Honduras the next day.

"Officials apparently channel as many cases as they can toward that facility so they can fill the flight and remove them," explained a attorney.

The ongoing impact

The whole situation has resulted in permanent damage, according to the court case. Rosario still experiences fear of extortion and abduction in Honduras.

In a earlier communication, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Rosario "elected" to bring her children to the federal appointment in April, and was questioned about authorities to relocate the minors with someone secure. The agency also stated that Rosario decided on removal with her children.

Ruby, who was unable to complete her academic term in the US, is at risk of "academic regression" and is "experiencing significant psychological challenges", according to the court documents.

Romeo, who has now reached five years, was denied critical and essential medical care in Honduras. He briefly returned to the US, without his mother, to continue treatment.

"Romeo's deteriorating health and the interruption of his care have created for the mother significant distress and mental suffering," the lawsuit claims.

*Names of people involved have been modified.