An 82-year-old Pennsylvania man who had been a legal U.S. resident for decades was reportedly deported to Guatemala last month after visiting an immigration office to replace his lost green card. His family, who was initially told he was dead, claims they were unaware of his removal and have since located him in a Guatemalan hospital.
Luis Leon, a longtime resident of Allentown, was granted political asylum in the United States in 1987 after being tortured under the regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. After losing his wallet containing his permanent resident card, Leon and his wife scheduled an appointment to replace it.
According to his wife, when they arrived at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office on June 20, Leon was unexpectedly handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and led away without explanation. His wife was allegedly held in the building for 10 hours.
The family’s search for information was met with confusion. They received a call from an unidentified woman claiming to be an immigration lawyer who offered help but would not disclose her sources. On July 9, the same woman reportedly called again to inform them that Leon had died.
A week later, a relative in Chile contacted the family with news that Leon was alive but hospitalized in Guatemala, a country with which he has no known connections. The family was told Leon had been transferred to a detention center in Minnesota before being deported, though he did not appear on official ICE removal lists. They also claimed his phone was confiscated and that officers referred to him and other detainees only as “Mario.”
However, the narrative has been strongly contested. ICE issued a statement calling the story a “hoax,” while the Guatemala Migration Institute denied that Leon was deported to their country. An ICE official separately told the Morning Call, the newspaper that first broke the story, that the agency was investigating the matter.
The Morning Call stated it had repeatedly sought comment from ICE during its reporting. The newspaper also noted that the family had ceased communication and that it could not independently verify the details of Leon’s situation in Guatemala.
During his nearly 40 years in the U.S., Leon worked at a leather manufacturing plant, raised a family, and had since retired. His family, who says he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and a heart condition, is planning to travel to Guatemala. They last reported he was recovering from pneumonia.
