November 7, 2025 • 29 mins
Orgullosa and her daughter, Estrella, began to rebuild their lives after they were separated in the U.S.-Mexico border under the first Trump administration in 2018. Seven years later, Trump was re-elected, and their story took a downward spiral.
They were “unlawfully deported” back to Honduras, despite having legal protection to be in the U.S.
In this episode, we hear from Orgullosa about the months leading up to her deportation, the harassment she experienced from ICE, and how she’s part of a broader court filing trying to bring families like hers back to the U.S.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Futuro investigatsta.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You know reggaeton, but do you know the whole story?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm Ginie Monsabo, senior producer and sound designer of Loud
The History of Reggaeton? Did you hear the news? Loud
is backed by a popular demand. Listen to all ten
episodes that break down the beats, politics, and power behind
the genre, hosted by herself, Evie Queen listen now only
on Spotify.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Is showing me around the house. We're in a static
key video call. The curtains are drawn, blocking out as
much sunlight as possible. Today is a very hot day
in northern on dudas she had already forgotten how clammy
and humid the summer can be here.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yak.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
She points the camera around the room where she and
her three kids sleep. She shares the bed with the youngest.
Then she walks downstairs and points the phone to two
of her kids. They're sitting in front of the television
on their little plastic chairs, playing a video game Roeblocks.
If you know, you know, they're so locked in that
(01:34):
they don't even look up when walks by. She says,
this is how they spend their days now inside because
it's really hot out. Plus they don't have many friends.
Yet in Ondudahs, things seem pretty ordinary. Heresa is taking
care of her children, her kids are being kids, and
(01:57):
she has a roof over her head. But the truth
is things here are not okay. Behind this veil of normality,
Orgoyosa's family is begrudgingly adjusting to their new lives. They're
navigating a traumatic and abrupt change, and this is slowly
(02:19):
becoming their new reality.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
It difas in Viviraq.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
She says, it's difficult to live here. Orgoyosa settles onto
the bed and gets comfortable. I'm the first reporter. She's
going to tell the story of how she ended up here,
deported to Honduras. Now, Orgoyosa is not her real name.
We're going to be using pseudonymes for her and her
family in this story to protect their safety.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Starting THO, I time Passando di si Raqi.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
After seven years of working hard at building a life
in the US with her children, now she's back here
in the country she once left behind, starting over from zero.
This sudden instability in her life feels like whiplash because
she's gone through it before. She's already had to start over,
(03:14):
and here she is a second time.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
From Puduro Media. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria ino Josa.
Today we meet a family that was recently deported to
Hoduras despite having legal protections to remain in the US.
We learn how this family story is now part of
a broader legal effort to return others like them who
are protected under a legal settlement with the US government.
(03:54):
You just heard from Latino USA producer Ronaldo Leanoz Junior
at the top of our show.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
He's going to bring us the rest of the story.
On October fourteen, the American Civil Liberties Union, also known
as the ACLU, filed an urgent motion with the US
District Court for the Southern District of California.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
What we are asking the court to do is very.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Straightforward, that's legal learned. He's a lawyer in the filing
and director of the acou's Immigrant Rights project. The motion
he filed alleges that the US government deported orgo Yosa's
family and other previously separated families despite them having parole
status which allowed them to remain in the US legally.
Speaker 6 (04:37):
We believe that these families were removed illegally and we
were asking the court to order the government to facilitate
their return back to the United States.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Go learned claims part of their deportation was illegal because
orgo Yosa and her family had parole status until July
twenty twenty seven, and this form of protection was granted
to them because they'd already faced the US government in
a larger legal battle the part of a protected class
(05:08):
of people. Under the Misseell Settlement Agreement.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
We reached a comprehensive settlement with the government during the
Biden administration.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
The Misseell Agreement has roots that stem back to the
Trump administrations twenty eighteen zero tolerance policy, when thousands of
children were ripped away from their parents at the southern border.
The agreement was meant to, in a way, helped write
some of the wrongs of the family separation policies under
the first Trump administration. It granted certain benefits to families
(05:40):
torn apart, things like access to legal and mental health
services and parole status. It all dates back to early
twenty eighteen, when urgu Yosa arrived at the US Mexico
border with her then five years old daughter Istrea. They
(06:02):
made the difficult cross country journey together. At the border,
Urguosa and her child turned themselves into border agents and
asked for asylum. They were then taken to an immigration facility.
The agents took all of their belongings. They gave her
(06:22):
and her daughter a single sheet. Then she and Istraya
spent the night there. The next day, a border agent
kicked her to wake her up.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Mason.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
He asked her if she knew what was going to
happen with her daughter. Tu you will be deported, he said,
and your daughter will stay and be put up for
adoption in the US, she recalls.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yo. Pegeantos broke into tears.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
She says the other mothers around her were told the
same thing. She cried all day. She had never been
away from her daughter.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Iglet me are you?
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Later, immigration officials came back and told her they were
here to take her child. Orgyosa fainted.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Mayo.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
When she regained consciousness, her daughter was gone one by one.
The other mothers at the facility also experienced the same thing.
She says, all of their children were taken. Ogyosa was desperate.
She didn't know where her daughter was taken. The other
(08:05):
mother said they saw Estraya on a bus.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Are you fucking Santhi.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
She says it felt like her life was ending. While
these family separations were happening, images of kids in cages
were being plastered across the news. People took to the
streets citing the cruelty of the practice and demanding an
(08:37):
end to family separations. Many politicians on both sides of
the aisle rebuked Trump's policy After immense public backlash, Zero
tolerance ended about six weeks after it was implemented. At
least three thousand kids were ripped away during this short time. Later,
Congress revealed that thousands more were separated from their parents
(09:00):
before and after the policy's implementation, more than five thousand
children in total. Shortly after Trump ended the policy, an
immigration judge allowed her to leave custody to reunite with
her daughter. Because she was so young, She got in
touch with the local South Texas organization that helped her
(09:22):
get a hotel. Then the next day she was finally
reunited with her daughter. Estrea was brought to Texas all
the way from Maryland. She says her five year old
had been living at an office, a refugee resettlement shelter.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Pando Jovia Amnina.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
When she saw her daughter. She felt so happy they
were finally together again. It was around this time that
the mis cell litigation really began unfolding, and legal learned.
The lawyer from the ACLU was involved from the get
go in the legal fight against Trump's family separation policy.
(10:18):
He vividly remembers this era as.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
Sad and frustrating. This is the worst thing I've ever
seen in my thirty plus years doing this work. It
was gratuitous cruelty at its absolute worst.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
After Orgyosa was reunited with her daughter, she thought the
horror they lived through was finally over. She set out
to pick up the shattered pieces of her life and
try to move on from the trauma, and for a
while she did. She got a job Ima, she started
(10:52):
going to church and became a Christian anthem started Schoolosa
was also a to bring her eldest son to the US,
whom she'd left back in on Dudahs. She began a
relationship with someone and even had a baby, a little boy.
She started living her American dream, a better life than
(11:12):
she had an on Dudahs. But as much as she
tried to put the past behind her, the lingering effects
of the separation reared.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yes the Empress Epipi and Sema c Empressippi and Altuna.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Estraya would urinate herself at home and even at school.
The sound of an ambulance passing by or police I
weren whaling in the streets would trigger this. Uruyosa and
Israa went to therapy. She learned that her young daughter
was deeply traumatized by their separation. It wasn't until Estraa
was about eight or nine as she finally stopped wedding herself.
(11:50):
Several years after their initial separation. As Esterrea started to heal,
life did start to feel like it was getting back
to some sense of normalcy for their family. The Misseelle
Settlement Agreement officially went into effect in late twenty twenty three.
Orguyosa gained more concrete protections, like the parole status that
(12:13):
we talked about earlier, allowing her to remain in the
country until at least twenty twenty seven, But the stability
she slowly began to experience came to a crashing end
when Trump became president again.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Coming up on Latino USA, we learned what led to
Orguyosa's sudden deportation to Honduras. When Trump took office for
a second term. Stay with USA, Yes, Hey, we're back.
(12:53):
Before the break, we met Orguyosa. She was recently deported
to Hoduras and is now part of brought her legal
effort to bring her and other families back to the US.
Now we're going to hear from Uyosa about the harassment
she experienced from ICE in the months leading up to
her deportation. Latino USA producer Renaldo Lanos Junior continues, from here.
Speaker 7 (13:24):
All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will
begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal
aliens back to the places from which they came.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
When Trump became president earlier this year, Urguyosa says she
felt the effects almost instantly. She had been going to
regular check ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her check
ins with ICE were sparse and usually fairly quick. She
had parole status and work authorization. She'd been doing things
that quote unquote right way, so she wasn't really strong rest.
(14:00):
But at her January appointment, the process suddenly changed.
Speaker 8 (14:07):
The ICE.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
They told her she needed to go online and schedule
an appointment. Her standing appointment with ICE was no longer
Validosa was confused, When she arrived for her made check in,
something else was different.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Ja.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Miba.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
It was the first time in more than seven years
that the appointment took a while. She and her daughter
Estreya waited for hours in the waiting room until it
was her turn. This might not sound like a big deal,
but it Madeosa anxious. By then, she'd been seeing a
lot of disturbing news reports from around the country that
people who were checking into their ICE appointments and court
(14:55):
hearings were being detained and deported.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
NBC six was the as person after person left Miami's
immigration court in tears.
Speaker 8 (15:04):
Thursday, a teenage boy has been detained by ICE after
showing up for a scheduled immigration appointment.
Speaker 9 (15:15):
This is one of the many hallways in Lower Manhattan
where massed immigration agents have been apprehending people outside of
their routine immigration court check ins. It's been happening almost
every single day for the better part of the last
two months.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
When it was finally her turn to go in, the
immigration officer told her dnt it. She was told that
she had an order for voluntary departure. Voluntary departure is
the legal name for something people often referred to as
self deportation. Basically, Ice was saying that they had paperwork
(15:50):
in which she had agreed to leave the country. Oosa
was shocked. She asked, when did this happen?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
The last thing?
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Not Ama right now? They told her when is it for?
What does it mean? It doesn't make any sense, she thought.
The official said she had agreed to leave the country.
She was confident she had never signed anything, but the
agents told her that it was in her file, so
moving forward, they were going to monitor her. Then, she says,
(16:21):
they asked her a waterfall of questions. How many kids
do you have? Where do you live? What's your address?
Do you have a partner? Do you drive? What kind
of car is it? What are the plates? Then she
(16:42):
was told she'd be getting an ankle monitor.
Speaker 10 (16:45):
I She started to cry, die, why are you going
to put this on me?
Speaker 4 (16:59):
She asked, I haven't done anything wrong. Estrea, now twelve,
started crying. She urinated herself. That snapped Yosa out of
her own fears. She stopped crying and told herself she
needed to be strong for her daughter. Once the ankle
(17:21):
monitor was on, Orgosa says she was told to sign
a document firma.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Aki es.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Too, sign here this means that if you leave the US,
you will take your children with you, says She signed
because she felt pressured. She was terrified. The idea of
possibly being separated from her children once again brought back
all of the trauma she had worked so hard to heal.
(17:52):
When she got to work, she told her boss about
the ankle monitor. Her boss hugged her and said, I'm sorry,
but you can't work here with that. Ogoyosa grabbed her
things and went home. She felt as if someone had
(18:17):
just chopped off her wings again. The following month was
really hard. The ankle monitor wasn't comfortable, Orgyosa had an
allergic reaction to it. She didn't have a job, She
lost weight, and her hair even started to fall out.
She decided to seek help. This June, someone referred her
(18:46):
to a lawyer. Her name is Annie lu Chadwick. She
received an email from ogo Yosa in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
It said she was a separated parent, that she really
needed help, that she was scared because isad placed her
on a ankle monitor.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Chadwick is the pro bono director of the immigrant rights
organization Together and Free. Part of what she does is
help separated families gain access to benefits guaranteed under the
Missile Settlement Agreement. It's become clear to her and others
that the Trump administration is now trying to undo years
of work. They're seeking to deport the families that advocates, lawyers,
(19:24):
and officials under the Biden administration works so hard to
find and reunite. Chadwick clearly remembers her first impression of Ougoyosa, this.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Mom will do anything and everything to fight for her
children's safety on her own.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
It was during this time, when Ougoyosa had her ankle
monitor that she also started to feel that immigration officials
were really harassing.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Her an no how long and boss.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
They started to check in with her constantly. One day
it was through the phone, then it was random how visit.
Another time she was told she needed to go in person.
Even on the weekends, they were checking in on her.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
It all seemed intentional and I've never before seen this.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
On top of that, Chadwick says that ogu Yosa was
given confusing messages during her check ins.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
She was even told at one point during one of
these check ins that she did not qualify for asylum.
An ICE officer does not make that decision. Another point
they said that there was a voluntary departure order and
that couldn't be right either.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
The acl Youth filing also says that the immigration judge
who released her from detention in twenty eighteen never gave
her notice of a future court date, a decision in
her asylum case, or notice of a removal order. Chadwick
says that the one thing she did sign was that
document saying that she would not leave the US without
(20:58):
her kids.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
It's not clear at what stage of ices representation she
signed that.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Will be right back, Yes, Hey, We're back. Producer Renald
Dolan Jr. Continues from here.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I reviewed the motion filed by the ACLU, and it
reiterates what ogo Yosa told me. She never signed a
voluntary departure order. And part of why all of this
is so confusing, And Chadwick says, it's because orgo Yosa
is part of the Missle settlement agreement. It's possible someone
like Ouguyosa could have a deportation order on their record
(21:48):
because she crossed the border in twenty eighteen and that's
when families were prosecuted. But the settlement agreement effectively froze
all other processes and made reunification the priority.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Nothing happened with those cases. Now they seem to be
coming alive, like zombie cases, restarting the processes they left
off at when they forcibly separated. They're trying to finish
the job they started.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
During Orgosa's increased check ins, her partner broke up with her.
She was reaching her breaking point. Everything was piling up
perd She lost her car, sing she didn't have food
at home.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Mima Mia.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
And her mom got sicken on durras.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
You Santhia gem Semsar.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Orgosa felt like her head was going to explode. Then
one day the immigration agent showed up at her door
and she told them, ya, no, miss don't ask me
anything else anymore. Mama, just send me back to Undudaus
(23:08):
so that I can be with my Momgoyosa didn't really
want to go back, but in that moment, she was broken.
She was terrified that one day she get picked up
while her kids were at school or away, and they'd
end up in a shelter again. She was immediately detained
(23:29):
and taken to a motel with her kids. Then they
were on a plane to undude Us. Agyosa says she
never signed anything, just verbally told them that she wanted
to be sent back to undud Us in a moment
of desperation. She'd tried to walk it back repeatedly, but
(23:50):
it was too late. Her American born son especially didn't
want to leave the US. He'd ask her mom, what
are we going to do there? It's now been a
couple of months and her kids are still struggling to
accept the change. When are we going to go back
(24:17):
to the US. We don't like it here, they say,
and Urguyosa has had trouble enrolling them in school. She
was told she needs to get her youngest kid a
dual citizenship to attend school and on dudas so he's
still not going to classes, and Estrea doesn't write or
(24:40):
read in Spanish, so the local school authorities have not
accepted her to attend classes either. Legal learned with the
aco U is hopeful that their motion to bring back
Urgosa and the other separated families who were recently deported
will work for now, they await the government's response to
(25:03):
their motion. After the court will weigh in.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
We'll just keep fighting until there's nothing low any reason
to keep fighting, and that means when all the families
have had their legal rights complied with.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Urguosa has now been living in Honduras for more than
three months, but she remains steadfast that she'll be able
to get justice for what happened to her and be
allowed to return to the US.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
See you have made the answer, Micastle against also Nilo.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
If God allows, I'm going to fight my case in
the US so I can legally return, I will return.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
That was Latino USA producer Ronaldo Leanos Junior. We did
reach out to the Department of Homeland Security for a
comment regarding Orguyosa's case and the other families were deported,
but we did not hear back. However, after we finished
this story, the government did give a response to the
(26:15):
motion filed by the ACLU. The government argues that the
court should deny the ACLU's motion and they alleged that
Orguyosa and her family departed voluntarily from the US. The
ACLUS motion shows Orguyosa and her kids were in ice
custody in a motel until they boarded their flight, and
(26:38):
in regards to the other families, the government says, quote
for those whose departure was not voluntary, the court lacks
the authority to order defendants to facilitate return to the
United States at taxpayer's expense. We will continue to follow
this story as it develops. We're gonna be dropping a
(27:01):
bonus episode that goes behind the scenes of this story.
It's gonna be available exclusively for you are Futuro Plus
members to listen to that episode and our other bonus episodes.
Don't forget to subscribe to Futuro Plus, and you can
do that by going to our website or by clicking
on the link in our show notes. So muchas gracias
(27:23):
in Tebayas. This episode was produced by Renaldo Leanos Junior.
It was edited by Julieta Martinelli. It was mixed by
gabriel A Bias. Fact checking for this episode by Rosanna
(27:46):
Guire Fernanda Echavri is our managing editor. The Latino USA
team also includes Julia Caruso, Jessica Elis, Rebecca Bara, Stephanie
lebou Ruis, Luna Roriman, Marquez, Monica Moreles, Garcia, jj Rubin,
Adriana Rodriguez and Nancy Trujillo. Benilee Ramids and I are
executive producers and I'm your host. Maria Ino Josa. Latino
(28:08):
USA is part of Iheart's mich Uldura podcast.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
Network.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
Executive producers at iHeart are our Lean Santana and Leo Gomez.
Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
I'll see you on all of our social media and
dear listener, don't forget to join Futuro Plus. It's so
easy and you'll get to listen to every episode ad free. Plus,
you'll get bonus content and chief made. Do it, You'll
(28:31):
love it, and we're waiting for you. Get asked Yes, Chao.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,
working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide
the Heising Simons Foundation unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities. More
at hsfoundation dot org and Skyline Foundation
Futuro investigatsta.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You know reggaeton, but do you know the whole story?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm Ginie Monsabo, senior producer and sound designer of Loud
The History of Reggaeton? Did you hear the news? Loud
is backed by a popular demand. Listen to all ten
episodes that break down the beats, politics, and power behind
the genre, hosted by herself, Evie Queen listen now only
on Spotify.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Is showing me around the house. We're in a static
key video call. The curtains are drawn, blocking out as
much sunlight as possible. Today is a very hot day
in northern on dudas she had already forgotten how clammy
and humid the summer can be here.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yak.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
She points the camera around the room where she and
her three kids sleep. She shares the bed with the youngest.
Then she walks downstairs and points the phone to two
of her kids. They're sitting in front of the television
on their little plastic chairs, playing a video game Roeblocks.
If you know, you know, they're so locked in that
(01:34):
they don't even look up when walks by. She says,
this is how they spend their days now inside because
it's really hot out. Plus they don't have many friends.
Yet in Ondudahs, things seem pretty ordinary. Heresa is taking
care of her children, her kids are being kids, and
(01:57):
she has a roof over her head. But the truth
is things here are not okay. Behind this veil of normality,
Orgoyosa's family is begrudgingly adjusting to their new lives. They're
navigating a traumatic and abrupt change, and this is slowly
(02:19):
becoming their new reality.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
It difas in Viviraq.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
She says, it's difficult to live here. Orgoyosa settles onto
the bed and gets comfortable. I'm the first reporter. She's
going to tell the story of how she ended up here,
deported to Honduras. Now, Orgoyosa is not her real name.
We're going to be using pseudonymes for her and her
family in this story to protect their safety.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Starting THO, I time Passando di si Raqi.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
After seven years of working hard at building a life
in the US with her children, now she's back here
in the country she once left behind, starting over from zero.
This sudden instability in her life feels like whiplash because
she's gone through it before. She's already had to start over,
(03:14):
and here she is a second time.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
From Puduro Media. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria ino Josa.
Today we meet a family that was recently deported to
Hoduras despite having legal protections to remain in the US.
We learn how this family story is now part of
a broader legal effort to return others like them who
are protected under a legal settlement with the US government.
(03:54):
You just heard from Latino USA producer Ronaldo Leanoz Junior
at the top of our show.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
He's going to bring us the rest of the story.
On October fourteen, the American Civil Liberties Union, also known
as the ACLU, filed an urgent motion with the US
District Court for the Southern District of California.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
What we are asking the court to do is very.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Straightforward, that's legal learned. He's a lawyer in the filing
and director of the acou's Immigrant Rights project. The motion
he filed alleges that the US government deported orgo Yosa's
family and other previously separated families despite them having parole
status which allowed them to remain in the US legally.
Speaker 6 (04:37):
We believe that these families were removed illegally and we
were asking the court to order the government to facilitate
their return back to the United States.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Go learned claims part of their deportation was illegal because
orgo Yosa and her family had parole status until July
twenty twenty seven, and this form of protection was granted
to them because they'd already faced the US government in
a larger legal battle the part of a protected class
(05:08):
of people. Under the Misseell Settlement Agreement.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
We reached a comprehensive settlement with the government during the
Biden administration.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
The Misseell Agreement has roots that stem back to the
Trump administrations twenty eighteen zero tolerance policy, when thousands of
children were ripped away from their parents at the southern border.
The agreement was meant to, in a way, helped write
some of the wrongs of the family separation policies under
the first Trump administration. It granted certain benefits to families
(05:40):
torn apart, things like access to legal and mental health
services and parole status. It all dates back to early
twenty eighteen, when urgu Yosa arrived at the US Mexico
border with her then five years old daughter Istrea. They
(06:02):
made the difficult cross country journey together. At the border,
Urguosa and her child turned themselves into border agents and
asked for asylum. They were then taken to an immigration facility.
The agents took all of their belongings. They gave her
(06:22):
and her daughter a single sheet. Then she and Istraya
spent the night there. The next day, a border agent
kicked her to wake her up.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Mason.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
He asked her if she knew what was going to
happen with her daughter. Tu you will be deported, he said,
and your daughter will stay and be put up for
adoption in the US, she recalls.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yo. Pegeantos broke into tears.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
She says the other mothers around her were told the
same thing. She cried all day. She had never been
away from her daughter.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Iglet me are you?
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Later, immigration officials came back and told her they were
here to take her child. Orgyosa fainted.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Mayo.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
When she regained consciousness, her daughter was gone one by one.
The other mothers at the facility also experienced the same thing.
She says, all of their children were taken. Ogyosa was desperate.
She didn't know where her daughter was taken. The other
(08:05):
mother said they saw Estraya on a bus.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Are you fucking Santhi.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
She says it felt like her life was ending. While
these family separations were happening, images of kids in cages
were being plastered across the news. People took to the
streets citing the cruelty of the practice and demanding an
(08:37):
end to family separations. Many politicians on both sides of
the aisle rebuked Trump's policy After immense public backlash, Zero
tolerance ended about six weeks after it was implemented. At
least three thousand kids were ripped away during this short time. Later,
Congress revealed that thousands more were separated from their parents
(09:00):
before and after the policy's implementation, more than five thousand
children in total. Shortly after Trump ended the policy, an
immigration judge allowed her to leave custody to reunite with
her daughter. Because she was so young, She got in
touch with the local South Texas organization that helped her
(09:22):
get a hotel. Then the next day she was finally
reunited with her daughter. Estrea was brought to Texas all
the way from Maryland. She says her five year old
had been living at an office, a refugee resettlement shelter.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Pando Jovia Amnina.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
When she saw her daughter. She felt so happy they
were finally together again. It was around this time that
the mis cell litigation really began unfolding, and legal learned.
The lawyer from the ACLU was involved from the get
go in the legal fight against Trump's family separation policy.
(10:18):
He vividly remembers this era as.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
Sad and frustrating. This is the worst thing I've ever
seen in my thirty plus years doing this work. It
was gratuitous cruelty at its absolute worst.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
After Orgyosa was reunited with her daughter, she thought the
horror they lived through was finally over. She set out
to pick up the shattered pieces of her life and
try to move on from the trauma, and for a
while she did. She got a job Ima, she started
(10:52):
going to church and became a Christian anthem started Schoolosa
was also a to bring her eldest son to the US,
whom she'd left back in on Dudahs. She began a
relationship with someone and even had a baby, a little boy.
She started living her American dream, a better life than
(11:12):
she had an on Dudahs. But as much as she
tried to put the past behind her, the lingering effects
of the separation reared.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yes the Empress Epipi and Sema c Empressippi and Altuna.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Estraya would urinate herself at home and even at school.
The sound of an ambulance passing by or police I
weren whaling in the streets would trigger this. Uruyosa and
Israa went to therapy. She learned that her young daughter
was deeply traumatized by their separation. It wasn't until Estraa
was about eight or nine as she finally stopped wedding herself.
(11:50):
Several years after their initial separation. As Esterrea started to heal,
life did start to feel like it was getting back
to some sense of normalcy for their family. The Misseelle
Settlement Agreement officially went into effect in late twenty twenty three.
Orguyosa gained more concrete protections, like the parole status that
(12:13):
we talked about earlier, allowing her to remain in the
country until at least twenty twenty seven, But the stability
she slowly began to experience came to a crashing end
when Trump became president again.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Coming up on Latino USA, we learned what led to
Orguyosa's sudden deportation to Honduras. When Trump took office for
a second term. Stay with USA, Yes, Hey, we're back.
(12:53):
Before the break, we met Orguyosa. She was recently deported
to Hoduras and is now part of brought her legal
effort to bring her and other families back to the US.
Now we're going to hear from Uyosa about the harassment
she experienced from ICE in the months leading up to
her deportation. Latino USA producer Renaldo Lanos Junior continues, from here.
Speaker 7 (13:24):
All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will
begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal
aliens back to the places from which they came.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
When Trump became president earlier this year, Urguyosa says she
felt the effects almost instantly. She had been going to
regular check ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her check
ins with ICE were sparse and usually fairly quick. She
had parole status and work authorization. She'd been doing things
that quote unquote right way, so she wasn't really strong rest.
(14:00):
But at her January appointment, the process suddenly changed.
Speaker 8 (14:07):
The ICE.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
They told her she needed to go online and schedule
an appointment. Her standing appointment with ICE was no longer
Validosa was confused, When she arrived for her made check in,
something else was different.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Ja.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Miba.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
It was the first time in more than seven years
that the appointment took a while. She and her daughter
Estreya waited for hours in the waiting room until it
was her turn. This might not sound like a big deal,
but it Madeosa anxious. By then, she'd been seeing a
lot of disturbing news reports from around the country that
people who were checking into their ICE appointments and court
(14:55):
hearings were being detained and deported.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
NBC six was the as person after person left Miami's
immigration court in tears.
Speaker 8 (15:04):
Thursday, a teenage boy has been detained by ICE after
showing up for a scheduled immigration appointment.
Speaker 9 (15:15):
This is one of the many hallways in Lower Manhattan
where massed immigration agents have been apprehending people outside of
their routine immigration court check ins. It's been happening almost
every single day for the better part of the last
two months.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
When it was finally her turn to go in, the
immigration officer told her dnt it. She was told that
she had an order for voluntary departure. Voluntary departure is
the legal name for something people often referred to as
self deportation. Basically, Ice was saying that they had paperwork
(15:50):
in which she had agreed to leave the country. Oosa
was shocked. She asked, when did this happen?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
The last thing?
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Not Ama right now? They told her when is it for?
What does it mean? It doesn't make any sense, she thought.
The official said she had agreed to leave the country.
She was confident she had never signed anything, but the
agents told her that it was in her file, so
moving forward, they were going to monitor her. Then, she says,
(16:21):
they asked her a waterfall of questions. How many kids
do you have? Where do you live? What's your address?
Do you have a partner? Do you drive? What kind
of car is it? What are the plates? Then she
(16:42):
was told she'd be getting an ankle monitor.
Speaker 10 (16:45):
I She started to cry, die, why are you going
to put this on me?
Speaker 4 (16:59):
She asked, I haven't done anything wrong. Estrea, now twelve,
started crying. She urinated herself. That snapped Yosa out of
her own fears. She stopped crying and told herself she
needed to be strong for her daughter. Once the ankle
(17:21):
monitor was on, Orgosa says she was told to sign
a document firma.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Aki es.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Too, sign here this means that if you leave the US,
you will take your children with you, says She signed
because she felt pressured. She was terrified. The idea of
possibly being separated from her children once again brought back
all of the trauma she had worked so hard to heal.
(17:52):
When she got to work, she told her boss about
the ankle monitor. Her boss hugged her and said, I'm sorry,
but you can't work here with that. Ogoyosa grabbed her
things and went home. She felt as if someone had
(18:17):
just chopped off her wings again. The following month was
really hard. The ankle monitor wasn't comfortable, Orgyosa had an
allergic reaction to it. She didn't have a job, She
lost weight, and her hair even started to fall out.
She decided to seek help. This June, someone referred her
(18:46):
to a lawyer. Her name is Annie lu Chadwick. She
received an email from ogo Yosa in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
It said she was a separated parent, that she really
needed help, that she was scared because isad placed her
on a ankle monitor.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Chadwick is the pro bono director of the immigrant rights
organization Together and Free. Part of what she does is
help separated families gain access to benefits guaranteed under the
Missile Settlement Agreement. It's become clear to her and others
that the Trump administration is now trying to undo years
of work. They're seeking to deport the families that advocates, lawyers,
(19:24):
and officials under the Biden administration works so hard to
find and reunite. Chadwick clearly remembers her first impression of Ougoyosa, this.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Mom will do anything and everything to fight for her
children's safety on her own.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
It was during this time, when Ougoyosa had her ankle
monitor that she also started to feel that immigration officials
were really harassing.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Her an no how long and boss.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
They started to check in with her constantly. One day
it was through the phone, then it was random how visit.
Another time she was told she needed to go in person.
Even on the weekends, they were checking in on her.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
It all seemed intentional and I've never before seen this.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
On top of that, Chadwick says that ogu Yosa was
given confusing messages during her check ins.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
She was even told at one point during one of
these check ins that she did not qualify for asylum.
An ICE officer does not make that decision. Another point
they said that there was a voluntary departure order and
that couldn't be right either.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
The acl Youth filing also says that the immigration judge
who released her from detention in twenty eighteen never gave
her notice of a future court date, a decision in
her asylum case, or notice of a removal order. Chadwick
says that the one thing she did sign was that
document saying that she would not leave the US without
(20:58):
her kids.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
It's not clear at what stage of ices representation she
signed that.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Will be right back, Yes, Hey, We're back. Producer Renald
Dolan Jr. Continues from here.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I reviewed the motion filed by the ACLU, and it
reiterates what ogo Yosa told me. She never signed a
voluntary departure order. And part of why all of this
is so confusing, And Chadwick says, it's because orgo Yosa
is part of the Missle settlement agreement. It's possible someone
like Ouguyosa could have a deportation order on their record
(21:48):
because she crossed the border in twenty eighteen and that's
when families were prosecuted. But the settlement agreement effectively froze
all other processes and made reunification the priority.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Nothing happened with those cases. Now they seem to be
coming alive, like zombie cases, restarting the processes they left
off at when they forcibly separated. They're trying to finish
the job they started.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
During Orgosa's increased check ins, her partner broke up with her.
She was reaching her breaking point. Everything was piling up
perd She lost her car, sing she didn't have food
at home.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Mima Mia.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
And her mom got sicken on durras.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
You Santhia gem Semsar.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Orgosa felt like her head was going to explode. Then
one day the immigration agent showed up at her door
and she told them, ya, no, miss don't ask me
anything else anymore. Mama, just send me back to Undudaus
(23:08):
so that I can be with my Momgoyosa didn't really
want to go back, but in that moment, she was broken.
She was terrified that one day she get picked up
while her kids were at school or away, and they'd
end up in a shelter again. She was immediately detained
(23:29):
and taken to a motel with her kids. Then they
were on a plane to undude Us. Agyosa says she
never signed anything, just verbally told them that she wanted
to be sent back to undud Us in a moment
of desperation. She'd tried to walk it back repeatedly, but
(23:50):
it was too late. Her American born son especially didn't
want to leave the US. He'd ask her mom, what
are we going to do there? It's now been a
couple of months and her kids are still struggling to
accept the change. When are we going to go back
(24:17):
to the US. We don't like it here, they say,
and Urguyosa has had trouble enrolling them in school. She
was told she needs to get her youngest kid a
dual citizenship to attend school and on dudas so he's
still not going to classes, and Estrea doesn't write or
(24:40):
read in Spanish, so the local school authorities have not
accepted her to attend classes either. Legal learned with the
aco U is hopeful that their motion to bring back
Urgosa and the other separated families who were recently deported
will work for now, they await the government's response to
(25:03):
their motion. After the court will weigh in.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
We'll just keep fighting until there's nothing low any reason
to keep fighting, and that means when all the families
have had their legal rights complied with.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Urguosa has now been living in Honduras for more than
three months, but she remains steadfast that she'll be able
to get justice for what happened to her and be
allowed to return to the US.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
See you have made the answer, Micastle against also Nilo.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
If God allows, I'm going to fight my case in
the US so I can legally return, I will return.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
That was Latino USA producer Ronaldo Leanos Junior. We did
reach out to the Department of Homeland Security for a
comment regarding Orguyosa's case and the other families were deported,
but we did not hear back. However, after we finished
this story, the government did give a response to the
(26:15):
motion filed by the ACLU. The government argues that the
court should deny the ACLU's motion and they alleged that
Orguyosa and her family departed voluntarily from the US. The
ACLUS motion shows Orguyosa and her kids were in ice
custody in a motel until they boarded their flight, and
(26:38):
in regards to the other families, the government says, quote
for those whose departure was not voluntary, the court lacks
the authority to order defendants to facilitate return to the
United States at taxpayer's expense. We will continue to follow
this story as it develops. We're gonna be dropping a
(27:01):
bonus episode that goes behind the scenes of this story.
It's gonna be available exclusively for you are Futuro Plus
members to listen to that episode and our other bonus episodes.
Don't forget to subscribe to Futuro Plus, and you can
do that by going to our website or by clicking
on the link in our show notes. So muchas gracias
(27:23):
in Tebayas. This episode was produced by Renaldo Leanos Junior.
It was edited by Julieta Martinelli. It was mixed by
gabriel A Bias. Fact checking for this episode by Rosanna
(27:46):
Guire Fernanda Echavri is our managing editor. The Latino USA
team also includes Julia Caruso, Jessica Elis, Rebecca Bara, Stephanie
lebou Ruis, Luna Roriman, Marquez, Monica Moreles, Garcia, jj Rubin,
Adriana Rodriguez and Nancy Trujillo. Benilee Ramids and I are
executive producers and I'm your host. Maria Ino Josa. Latino
(28:08):
USA is part of Iheart's mich Uldura podcast.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
Network.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
Executive producers at iHeart are our Lean Santana and Leo Gomez.
Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
I'll see you on all of our social media and
dear listener, don't forget to join Futuro Plus. It's so
easy and you'll get to listen to every episode ad free. Plus,
you'll get bonus content and chief made. Do it, You'll
(28:31):
love it, and we're waiting for you. Get asked Yes, Chao.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,
working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide
the Heising Simons Foundation unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities. More
at hsfoundation dot org and Skyline Foundation
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