Sirena Prosper was born in Freeport, Bahamas, to Haitian parents and brought to Florida as an infant. She has lived her whole life in the United States. Now she faces deportation to Haiti, a country her family says she does not know.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Prosper, a mother of seven and grandmother of three, at about 9 p.m. on September 14 outside Royal Hands Salon, the business she runs in Pompano Beach. Her three youngest sons, ages 14, 12 and 10, watched. She is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.

Prosper has been subject to a deportation order since 2002, stemming from a 1998 armed burglary conviction. For two decades she reported to regular ICE check-ins, which moved to email during the pandemic.

ICE confirmed the order and said Prosper has an extensive criminal record. Her relatives describe a loving mother and a productive member of the community, and say agents lured her outside by refusing to return her ID to her son.

The boys are now in the care of her niece. The family held a vigil on September 21 and is exploring ways to delay the deportation and arrange guardianship, and questions why she would be sent to Haiti rather than the Bahamas, where she was born.

Immigration attorney Frandley Julien, who does not represent Prosper, told the Haitian Times the case shows how little weight is given to the harm removals do to families.