One family’s harrowing escape to the US – and the Trump government’s relentless efforts to deport them back

## Summary
There is death everywhere.’ Illustration: Hokyoung Kim/The Guardian One family’s harrowing escape to the US – and the Trump government’s relentless efforts to deport them back Oscar, Ana and their children fled violence for safety in the US. Then, the government moved to sever his asylum case from his family’s – arguing that because his mailing address was at the detention center in Louisiana, he should no longer be considered a member of Ana’s household. Now, however, families are separated throughout the US, a previous Guardian investigation found, with one or both parents separated from their children and families at check-in appointments or inside detention centers. “The fifth amendment includes the right to family integrity,” Mukherjee said. “The executive branch is acting as if those constitutional protections are completely irrelevant to non-citizens.” Kelly Albinak Kribs of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said: “Families have always been separated through immigration enforcement, but the speed, the scale, the recklessness of this administration’s immigration enforcement has caused family separations at a more egregious level than we’ve ever seen before.” The drinking water at the detention center looked brown or gray, Oscar said. The family had filed their asylum case in Ana’s name, with Oscar and the kids as dependents – to ensure that the family’s immigration cases would all be considered together.

## Article Content
‘They will kill anyone here. There is death everywhere.’
Illustration: Hokyoung Kim/The Guardian
View image in fullscreen
‘They will kill anyone here. There is death everywhere.’
Illustration: Hokyoung Kim/The Guardian
One family’s harrowing escape to the US – and the Trump government’s relentless efforts to deport them back
Oscar, Ana and their children fled violence for safety in the US. Now Oscar, afraid and alone, is back in Honduras – ‘at the mercy of God and his will’
As soon as Oscar’s deportation flight landed at the La Lima airport in
Honduras
, he put on his baseball cap. On the airport shuttle toward the terminal, he pulled his cap even lower – trying to obscure his face at various police checkpoints.
His parents picked him up in a car, and drove him to a lodging they had arranged for him – miles away from his family home. He has hardly stepped outside since. “Because I can’t trust anyone – not the authorities, not the government, not a police officer,” he said. He has visited his mother a handful of times since the US deported him three weeks ago, and only under the cover of night. “They will kill anyone here. There is death everywhere.”
Oscar had fled Honduras in 2023, along with his wife Ana and their two young children. The Guardian is not using their real names, in order to protect Oscar – who remains in hiding.
The family had spent their last days in Honduras afraid, as well. Now, at least, Ana and their two kids were safe in the US. But Oscar was back, alone and fearing for his life.
“Now I’m left at the mercy of – of who?” said Oscar, speaking to the Guardian on the phone, from his hiding place. “I’m at the mercy of God and his will.”
Oscar’s case shows the extreme lengths the US government is willing to go to deport some asylum seekers.
US immigration officials detained Oscar just 11 days before his family’s scheduled asylum hearing, and swiftly moved him from Maryland – where the family lived – to a detention center in Louisiana. Then, the government moved to sever his asylum case from his family’s – arguing that because his mailing address was at the detention center in Louisiana, he should no longer be considered a member of Ana’s household. When Oscar tried to apply for asylum on his own, the Department of Homeland Security petitioned to scrap his application and send him to Guatemala instead. And then, for reasons not even his immigration attorney understands, the government sent him to Honduras anyway.
Oscar doesn’t know when he’ll be able to hug Ana and his kids again. “Once a person is out of the United States, it’s often extraordinarily difficult to secure permission from the US government, especially under this administration, to have them brought back to the United States,” said Elora Mukherjee, the director of Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
In an immigration system that is now increasingly testing the bounds of established policy and practice, “it’s a really scary time for so many people”, she said.
The DHS told the Guardian it could not respond to various questions about the family’s case unless it was provided with their identifying information. The Guardian chose not to reveal that information, considering the grave risks that Oscar faces in Honduras and fears the couple have of retaliation from immigration officials deciding on their cases.
This is the first time Ana, 27, and Oscar, 32, have been apart for any significant amount of time since they first got together, when they were students at the Universidad José Cecilio del Valle. From the beginning, they felt like they understood each other perfectly.
They’d stay up till late at night, discussing their lives, their studies and their activism. Oscar, along with his parents, was involved in the local
patronato
– a community governance board. Ana had involved herself in environmental and human rights organizing from when she was a teenager.
In 2017, Ana said, the water in the stream that ran through her community in Namasigüe turned brown. Construction crews started clear-cutting the trees across the region.
A massive solar energy project involving Honduran officials and international energy and investment companies had begun to install itself in Ana and Oscar’s town. It was one of
dozens of controversial
, large-scale
energy projects
approved by the country’s national congress. Some of these projects, research groups, reporters and human rights groups later reported, were awarded to companies and public figures linked to crime and corruption, and many
failed to benefit local communities
, resulting instead in deforestation and environmental destruction.
Ana began participating in daily sit-ins to protest against the development, and later coordinated with other activists in neighbouring communities. Some of the more established organizers suggested she had an aptitude for the work, and trained her up as a leader.
At that point, Ana and Oscar’s youngest daughter was a baby; sometimes Ana would leave her

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- This is the first time Ana, 27, and Oscar, 32, have been apart for any significant amount of time since they first got together, when they were students at the Universidad José Cecilio del Valle.
- Some of these projects, research groups, reporters and human rights groups later reported, were awarded to companies and public figures linked to crime and corruption, and many failed to benefit local communities , resulting instead in deforestation and environmental destruction.
- Ana couldn’t stop crying, and she couldn’t think of what to tell the kids – now aged nine and seven – about what was happening. “I feel my children are strong, because whenever they saw me crying, they would hug me.” And then, on 22 October, Ana and the children were granted asylum.

### Areas for Consideration
- Oscar doesn’t know when he’ll be able to hug Ana and his kids again. “Once a person is out of the United States, it’s often extraordinarily difficult to secure permission from the US government, especially under this administration, to have them brought back to the United States,” said Elora Mukherjee, the director of Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.

### Implications
- ‘They will kill anyone here.
- There is death everywhere.’ Illustration: Hokyoung Kim/The Guardian View image in fullscreen ‘They will kill anyone here.
- Now Oscar, afraid and alone, is back in Honduras – ‘at the mercy of God and his will’ As soon as Oscar’s deportation flight landed at the La Lima airport in Honduras , he put on his baseball cap.
- He has visited his mother a handful of times since the US deported him three weeks ago, and only under the cover of night. “They will kill anyone here.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers oscar, ana, family topics. Notable strengths include discussion of oscar. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2546.