A widely shared story claiming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) secretly deported an 82-year-old green card holder from Pennsylvania to Guatemala has unraveled under scrutiny from federal agencies, international authorities, and fact-checkers. Initially reported by several major news outlets, the story has since been discredited as false, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calling it “journalistic malpractice.”
Fake News Story That Spread Quickly
The story first gained traction in mid-July 2025 after The Morning Call, a local newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported that Luis Leon, a legal permanent resident from Chile, had disappeared after visiting a USCIS office in Philadelphia to replace a lost green card. According to early reports, Leon was allegedly detained by ICE, deported to Guatemala, and later presumed dead—only to be found alive in a hospital in Guatemala City.
The narrative was picked up by national and international outlets, including:
- The Daily Beast
- The Guardian
- New York Post
- NBC News
The story quickly went viral across social media platforms, where it was cited as evidence of immigration enforcement overreach and a breakdown in due process for legal residents.
No Records or Evidence of Deportation
However, as the story circulated, it faced increasing skepticism—particularly from government officials who said the claims simply didn’t hold up under investigation.
On July 21, DHS released a statement directly refuting the central claims of the story. According to the agency:
- There is no record of any ICE arrest of a man named Luis Leon in Philadelphia or anywhere else in the United States.
- There is no USCIS appointment logged for Leon on the reported date of June 20, 2025.
- DHS confirmed it does not deport South American nationals to Guatemala, as Guatemala only receives Guatemalan nationals under U.S. repatriation agreements.
“ICE never arrested or deported Luis Leon,” the department said. “The story is demonstrably false and appears to have been based on unverified information.”
Source: DHS press release
Guatemalan authorities also denied involvement. The Guatemalan Institute of Migration stated they had no record of Leon entering the country through official deportation channels or hospital admittance logs. AP coverage confirmed that Guatemala would not accept deportees from Chile under current agreements.
Adding to the doubts, investigative reporters in Chile found a death record for a man named Luis Leon with the same birth date; registered in Santiago in 2019. If that record is accurate, the subject of the viral story may have been deceased for six years.
Discrepancies and Red Flags
A number of inconsistencies quickly cast doubt on the original reporting:
| Claim | Contradiction |
| Leon was arrested by ICE at a USCIS office in Philadelphia | No ICE or USCIS record of an appointment or detention |
| He was deported to Guatemala | No deportation record exists; Guatemala denies involvement |
| His family was told he died in custody | No official notification or documentation provided |
| He was found alive in a Guatemalan hospital | No hospital record exists; identity not verified |
| He was a Chilean national | Chilean death records indicate he may have died in 2019 |
Further complicating matters, no photos or credible identity documents of Leon in Guatemala have been publicly released. No one claiming to be a family member has come forward on the record.
A Cautionary Tale for Modern Media
While early reporting by The Morning Call and others appeared to rely on anonymous sources or unverified family statements, the lack of corroborating documentation or official comment should have raised red flags before national syndication.