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Who is Luis Leon? Chilean national wrongfully deported to Guatemala found alive; family misinformed about his death
An 82-year-old was wrongfully deported after an ICE office visit was presumed dead by his family. He was later found alive in Guatemala.
Trump’s immigrant crackdown’s latest victim turns out to be an 82-year-old Chilean national from Allentown, Pennsylvania, named Luis Leon, who was presumed to be dead by his family until a recent call confirmed his location in a Guatemalan hospital. What started as a simple visit to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office with his wife on June 20 to replace his green card, kept in a wallet which got stolen, turned into something much more serious, as reported by The Morning Call. The man was arrested by officers on the spot, and the family hadn’t received any update on his whereabouts ever since.
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Who is Luis Leon?
Popular in his neighborhood as a handyman, Leon first came to the US back in 1987 after being granted political asylum during the time of dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rule, as confirmed by his granddaughter to The Morning Call. Now living in America, he frequently went fishing with friends and was quite skilled with tools. His family claims that Leon has been an exemplary citizen, without being booked for so much as a parking ticket.
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What happened to Luis Leon?
On July 9, the man’s wife received a phone call from an unknown number, which told the family that Leon had passed away. However, recently, a relative based in Chile came to know that he was alive and had been moved to a hospital in Guatemala after first being transferred to Minnesota. The ICE refuses to provide any further clarification on this matter. Digital databases of the ICE do not show any records of even arresting Leon in the first place, as reported by The Independent.
A few days after his initial arrest, the family was contacted by an immigration lawyer who said she could help with the matter. The family claims that this is the same person who anonymously called them about Leon’s death as well.
The family, including his granddaughter, is now set to head to Guatemala on Saturday (July 26) to check up on and reunite with Leon. “I can see all my family is in pain now,” she told The Morning Call.
(By Stuti Gupta)
