Wendy Hernandez Reyes, a 29-year-old undocumented immigrant and domestic violence survivor with no criminal record, was detained by Baldwin County sheriff's deputies in Mobile, Alabama on January 8, 2026, during a traffic stop while on her way to work. After ICE was contacted, she repeatedly requested to take her young U.S. citizen son, Orlin, with her or be released to care for him, but ICE denied these requests. She was deported to Honduras on January 26, 2026, forced to leave Orlin in the care of her brother-in-law, Samuel Maldonado Erazo. On March 4, 2026, Orlin died from multiple blunt force traumas inflicted by Maldonado, who was charged with first-degree murder. Hernandez Reyes remains in Honduras grieving her son's death, while a federal court reopened a case against the Department of Homeland Security alleging ICE failed to follow safety protocols and lacked a reunification plan; ICE has blamed Hernandez for leaving her son with the relative.