Dilcia (a pseudonym) came to the United States from Honduras on a visa and spent 24 years in Galveston, Texas, raising four children alone on two jobs, including food prep at a restaurant. Her youngest, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen, has autism and depends on her completely. In spring 2026, on her way to her restaurant job, an officer stopped her, told her she had a deportation order and shackled her hands and feet. She was held nine days at a facility near Houston. "They leave you sitting in a freezing room on an iron chair, day and night, without eating. You can't bathe. They treat us like we were dogs," she said. She fell ill with fever and high blood pressure. "I asked for medical attention several times, because I felt very sick. They did nothing. Just a little pill, and okay, go." She was told it was voluntary departure, but she never saw a judge and signed nothing. Of the flight to Honduras, she said: "They shackle us from head to toe, even the pregnant women. I had never in my life been through that." In Honduras the ex-partner who once tried to kill her was waiting, so she fled to Mexico, where she is working and applying for papers. She has not seen or spoken to her son in a year. "My son depends on me. I left him with his older sister, but she cannot care for him. I am devastated." HUMSI interviewed her in Tapachula in September 2026.