Gramps Vanishes Into ICE Black Hole, Pops Up in Guatemala Hospital

Imagine thinking your granddad is dead after he vanished into the ICE abyss, only to find out he's in a Guatemalan hospital. That's the wild ride for one Allentown family, whose 82-year-old patriarch was deported after he went to appointment about his lost Green Card.
Luis Leon, an 82-year-old Allentown resident, took a trip with his wife to get a lost green card sorted in Philly and ended up cuffed and carted away by ICE without a word. His wife, stuck in language limbo, got left behind and spent 10 hours detained in a building before her granddaughter arrived to rescue her, but not her grandpa. The family went full detective mode, calling everyone from hospitals to morgues, but Leon's name was a ghost in ICE's online system. The plot thickened when a Supreme Court ruling cracked open the door for deportations to random countries. Next thing you know, grandpa's in a Guatemalan hospital. Leon, a political asylum seeker from the Pinochet-era Chile, had been living the retired life in Allentown, raising kids and doing handyman stuff. Then he gets snatched up by ICE just for losing his wallet. The family got hit with a 'he's dead' call, courtesy of a mystery woman posing as an immigration lawyer who vanished faster than a Snapchat story. But plot twist: a week later, they learn Leon was shuffled from Minnesota detention to a Guatemala hospital. Mind blown, right? Nataly, Leon's granddaughter, is flying out to check on him, but she's not having it with the system. Grandpa's got health issues—diabetes, heart stuff, you name it—and this whole saga is a mess without a punchline. The Trump admin's deportation drive was supposed to nab the bad guys, but spoiler alert: it's often snatching up folks like Leon, who hasn't even jaywalked. The numbers tell the tale—ICE's detention centers are packed with people who haven't committed crimes. Leon's only crime? A lost green card.