Agustin Locreto Flores was on his way to work in Montrose, Colorado, on July 2 when federal immigration agents surrounded the van he was in and yanked the longtime resident and father out, his attorney said this week.

Seven days later, Locreto Flores, who has lived in the United States without legal documentation for about 20 years, was deported to Nogales, Mexico — having had barely any contact with his lawyer, and before any court hearing that she was aware of, attorney Renée Taylor said.

Meanwhile, Locreto Flores’ family is wondering how his daughter, who has leukemia, will make it to her oncology appointments.

“He was never given a hearing,” Taylor said of the deportation.

After Locreto Flores was detained, Taylor said she spent what time she could trying to track down where he was in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement system, only to learn he had been taken from Grand Junction to Aurora and, finally, to Florence, Arizona.

She reached the detention facility in Arizona at 10 a.m. July 9, and asked to speak with her client. An unidentified agent responded three hours later: Locreto Flores was being prepared for deportation, according to emails provided by Taylor.

“My client is entitled to due process and have his bond motion heard by Immigration Judge before he can be deported,” she wrote in response.

Taylor finally secured a bond hearing for Locreto Flores in Arizona on Thursday — after he had already been removed from the country, and with far more questions about his case than answers.

Taylor said in an interview after that hearing that Locreto Flores was denied bond because the court lacked jurisdiction — because he had already been deported.

Locreto Flores’s family is determining next steps and how to fight the deportation, including which courts they can file an appeal in, she said.

Locreto Flores, 48, is one of more than a thousand people who have been detained in Colorado since President Donald Trump took office on promises of severe enforcement of federal immigration law. It’s unclear how Locreto Flores was targeted for deportation, including whether it was part of a general sweep or if he had a pending deportation order. A search of Colorado and federal court records shows only three minor traffic cases.

ICE’s national media office did not respond to a request for comment and information about this case. The agency recently reinterpreted longstanding rules about detention to bar immigrants from having bond hearings during their deportation proceedings, according to a Washington Post story published Tuesday.

Maria, Locreto Flores’ stepdaughter, said in an interview that his younger children have been crying every day since his deportation. The family has sold whatever they could — tools, his truck — to raise money for the bond hearing. The family put $50 on Locreto Flores’ account with ICE to pay for phone calls. But he was deported so quickly, he never had a chance to use it, Maria said.

Instead, after days of hearing nothing, Locreto Flores was able to borrow a phone in Mexico to let his family know he was alive.

In an interview, Maria, who is not being fully identified because she is undocumented and fears deportation herself, kept returning to the same four words: “A really fast process.” Her mother, Locreto Flores’ wife, was initially frustrated at the lack of communication about her husband’s whereabouts. Now, she’s just sad, Maria said.

She also worries about how her younger sister, Locreto Flores’ daughter, who is a citizen, will make it to leukemia treatments in Denver. Locretro Flores would make the five-hour drive for treatments.

“He was a good guy,” Maria said. “He was a really good father figure.”

A search of state court records shows Locreto Flores had three misdemeanor traffic cases between 2016 and 2022. Two were habitual traffic violations and a third was for driving while his license was revoked or denied.

Taylor said she was never allowed to make the case that Locreto Flores should be released on bond while fighting his deportation. Instead, she will argue in court on Thursday while Locreto Flores is across the border.

“The government is not inclined to bring people back,” Taylor said. “But there have been cases where if the child is sick, or is going through treatment, those are the ones they’ll make an exception for.”

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