Emilio, a Deaf asylum seeker from Venezuela, was detained by ICE at a routine check-in appointment in Texas in December 2025 and later deported without access to a sign language interpreter. He was sent to Mexico rather than his home country, a place he had never lived and where he knew no one, and relied on other Deaf people for financial help to reach Mexico City. Advocates say more than 100 Deaf people who use sign language as their primary language have received deportation or removal orders since early 2026, raising concerns about lack of interpreter access throughout the immigration and detention process.