An 82-year-old grandfather from Pennsylvania was secretly deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after misplacing his green card — a move that left his family fearing the worst for weeks, The Morning Call reported.
Luis Leon, a Chilean national and longtime resident of Allentown, vanished on June 20 after visiting a Philadelphia immigration office with his wife to request a replacement for his lost green card. Instead of helping him, officers reportedly handcuffed Leon without explanation and took him into custody, his family told reporters.
In the days that followed, his loved ones frantically searched for answers, contacting hospitals, detention centers, and even a morgue in a desperate attempt to locate him. Nearly three weeks later, on July 9, the family received a phone call suggesting Leon had died — further deepening their anxiety and confusion.
But this week brought a startling discovery: Leon was not dead. He had been transferred from an ICE detention facility in Minnesota to Guatemala. He is now hospitalized in Guatemala City, though the reason for his deportation to that country — which he has no known ties to — remains unclear. The Independent has reached out to ICE for comment.
Leon, a survivor of Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship in Chile, was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1987. His family says he has lived a quiet life ever since, with no criminal record — not even a parking violation. Despite this, his case now appears to fall into a growing category: non-criminal immigrants being detained and deported by ICE. According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, more than 56,800 individuals are currently in ICE custody — 72% of them with no criminal convictions.
The ordeal has taken an emotional toll on Leon’s family. His granddaughter, Nataly, said she plans to fly to Guatemala to be by his side. Leon suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and other chronic conditions that make his situation particularly concerning.
“I can see all my family is in pain right now,” Nataly told The Morning Call, adding that she hopes her grandfather’s case will draw attention to what she described as deeply flawed treatment by the U.S. immigration system.
Further complicating matters, shortly after Leon’s arrest, a woman claiming to be an immigration attorney called his wife, promising help in securing his release. She offered no explanation of how she learned about the case or where Leon was being held — adding another layer of mystery to an already troubling saga.
While the Supreme Court recently allowed the Trump administration greater leeway to deport individuals to countries they may never have lived in, Leon’s sudden removal to Guatemala — with no prior notice or legal explanation — has shocked immigration advocates and raised new concerns about ICE’s handling of vulnerable detainees.
