Did the Trump administration arrest and deport an 82-year-old Chilean legal immigrant in poor health to Guatemala? That was the stunning claim that appeared on Friday as several different press outlets repeated a report from The Morning Call, a local newspaper based in Allentown, PA.
According to family members, who are the entirety of the sourcing on this, Luis Leon and his wife were allegedly arrested by ICE while the former was trying to replace his green card. Both were taken to a detention facility "without explanation." After 10 hours, the wife was released, but Leon, who gained asylum in 1987, was kept in custody. That's where the first oddity in this story emerges. Family members talking to the press first claimed he had died in custody. Now, though, they are saying he is at a hospital in Guatemala.
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Relatives of 82-year-old Allentown resident Luis Leon are headed to a Guatemalan hospital Saturday in hopes of reuniting with the man they say disappeared without a trace into the American immigration system a month ago — and who, for a time, they thought was dead.
The last time anyone in the family saw Leon was June 20, when he went with his wife to a Philadelphia immigration office to have his lost green card replaced.
There, the family says, he was handcuffed by two officers, who led him away without explanation. His wife, who speaks little English, was left behind and kept in the building for 10 hours until she was released to her granddaughter, the family says.
Naturally, this story went viral, with left-wing social media accounts vacuuming up engagement by sharing it.
An 82 year old man named Luis Leon came to the US in 1987.
— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto) July 19, 2025
He sought asylum from political persecution in Chile.
He’s been in the US ever since & was granted a green card.
He lost his wallet (and green card) in June & when he went to replace it he was disappeared by ICE 🧵
I'm going to try to tread lightly here because the possibility exists that a mistake was made by the Trump administration and that the family is telling some version of the truth. With that said, I can only go by the evidence we have in front of us. There have been multiple hoaxes perpetrated involving accusations against ICE over the last several months, so unless something is substantiated, it shouldn't just be taken at face value.
First and foremost, was Luis Leon ever even arrested by ICE? As of now, his name does not appear in any of their databases, which would be unusual. Secondly, if he was, was his immigration status as in order as the family is saying? As far as I can tell, no one has really dug into that yet, so major questions remain. Was his green card valid? Was there another extenuating circumstance at play? We simply don't know at this point, despite the enthusiasm of the press to speak with such certainty about the situation.
With that said, the biggest twist in this story took place on Sunday. Guatemalan authorities put out a statement denying that Luis Leon entered their country, saying no one of his name or age range matches any entries. Further, they confirmed no person of Chilean nationality has been deported to Guatemala either.
UPDATE on this very bizarre story: Now the Guatemala Immigration Authorities have issued a press release saying no one by the name of Luis Leon has entered Guatemala lawfully at an immigration checkpoint and no national of Chile has been deported from the US there. pic.twitter.com/VvBANsbH3t
— Nicolette Glazer (@NicoletteGlazer) July 21, 2025
So, is he in Guatemala or not? There's no evidence to say he is, and you'd think the authorities there would have no problem locating him if he had been officially deported there and had been put in a hospital. Deportation flights are highly standardized. It's not like ICE just flies deportees in unannounced and dumps them on the street. They are processed by the receiving government.
Further, Luis Leon's granddaughter told the press he's in Guatemala recovering from pneumonia, but that he has "no plans" to return to the United States. Wait, what? So he's from Chile and has been in America legally for nearly 40 years, but he's just going to stay in Guatemala? That's a little too convenient, given the seriousness of the accusation.
Lastly, a lot of the details provided by the family do not add up. Nicolette Glazer, an immigration lawyer, explained in a recent social media thread how many of their claims are factually incorrect. It's too much to copy and paste here, but click below and read through all the inconsistencies she notes regarding how the immigration system actually works.
2. Then the article claims that Mr. Leon "was handcuffed by two officers, who led him away without explanation. His wife, who speaks little English, was left behind and kept in the building for 10 hours until she was released to her granddaughter."
— Nicolette Glazer (@NicoletteGlazer) July 20, 2025
This all sounds too familiar…
Again, maybe ICE nabbed the wrong guy and some version of this story happened, but as things stand, a lot of this doesn't smell right. We need much more information, and the press should be seeking it instead of rushing to profit politically off unsubstantiated accusations.
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