80-Year-Old Asylum Recipient and Torture Survivor Secretly Deported After Trying To Replace His Green Card: Report

An 82-year-old legal U.S. resident and torture survivor was deported to Guatemala after visiting an immigration office in Philadelphia to replace his lost green card, according to his family and local media reports. The man, Luis Leon, had been granted asylum in the United States in 1987 after surviving torture under the regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Leon, a long-time resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania, disappeared after his June 20 appointment, during which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers handcuffed him without explanation, his wife told Morning Call. He was allegedly held in the building for 10 hours before being released, and the family was unable to find out Leon's whereabouts for weeks.

On July 9, a woman claiming to be an immigration lawyer contacted the family to report that Leon had died. Days later, however, a relative in Chile informed them that Leon was alive and hospitalized in Guatemala, suffering from pneumonia. He also has diabetes, high blood pressure, and a heart condition, according to his family. He is now recovering and, according to his granddaughter, does not plan to return to the U.S.

The circumstances surrounding Leon's deportation, however, remain unclear. ICE has not confirmed his removal, and the Guatemalan Migration Institute said no one matching Leon's identity had been deported through its coordinated system with ICE, according to an Associated Press report published on Monday. The institute also highlighted that Guatemala does not accept deportees from Chile under its current agreement with the United States.

Leon's case comes after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that left open the possibility of deporting immigrants to third countries. The Trump administration has increasingly exercised this option, sending people to countries they have never lived in, including South Sudan and Eswatini.

ICE told The Morning Call that it was investigating the matter. Leon's family continues to search for answers and plans to travel to Guatemala to see him. "I can see all my family is in pain right now," his granddaughter said. Leon had lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years, worked in a leather factory, and has no criminal record.