Felipe Mendez and his sons stand beside their luggage outside the Tornado Bus station on Nolensville Road in Nashville on Oct. 13, 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
When U.S. Customs and Immigration Officers arrested Felipe Mendez, he was given the choice of losing his two sons to government custody if he tried fighting the deportation or leaving the United States willingly.
He lost his wife and 2-year-old son when tornadoes swept through his trailer park in Nashville in 2023, dropping a neighbor’s mobile home on top of the house he shared with his family of five. Mendez described to reporters at the time he remembered hearing the cries of his wife and children, knowing she and the toddler died when they went quiet…