AMNA NAWAZ: The violent deaths of a Missouri couple who had illegally immigrated to the United States are shining another spotlight on the Trump administration's deportation policy.

They were killed after the husband was deported and the wife self-deported back to Guatemala.

Lisa Desjardins is here now to tell us more -- Lisa.

LISA DESJARDINS: Nixon Giovanni, Perez Paz, and Glendy Marisol Gonzalez de la Cruz were found bound, gagged, and shot in a sugarcane field in Guatemala.

Their 14-month-old daughter was alive and crying next to her mother's body.

The couple, whose funeral was last week, leaves behind two other young daughters as well.

Gonzalez de la Cruz left the United States with her daughters just weeks ago, self-deporting after her husband was detained by ICE and deported last year following a traffic stop.

Now two communities in two countries are reeling and searching for answers.

For more, I'm joined by Brian Munoz.

He is with St.

Louis Public Radio, and he broke the story.

Brian, first of all, help us understand what we know about the murders of this couple and in particular the status of their children.

BRIAN MUNOZ, St.

Louis Public Radio: Absolutely.

So this is just the latest harrowing story out of Missouri about people perishing after interactions with U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In this specific case, Glendy and Nixon had came to the St.

Louis area and were separated after Nixon and his brother Rolando were stopped by ICE officials on the way to work one day last April.

They say that -- the brother tells me, that is, that they were on the way to their roofing jobs when an unmarked vehicle started chasing them down and pulled them over.

After they stopped, agents swarmed the vehicle and they were taking in and subsequently deported.

LISA DESJARDINS: And that happened last year, right?

BRIAN MUNOZ: Yes.

That happened last April, according to an ICE spokesperson.

And so Glendy decided, hey, I'm going to stick it out.

She stayed and decided to work two jobs, trying to put food on the table, but the rising cost and the fear of being detained and separated from her children made her do the unthinkable and decide, hey, I'm going to go back.

She had an act of asylum claim here, according to federal records, and her friends tell me that, like I mentioned, she was afraid.

She was afraid for her safety and for the safety of her children.

So, after having said, hey, this is too much, she decided to go, and she took her three kids with her.

And not even a month later, I think a week or two, she was found shot and killed.

So her three daughters, young, in grade school, the youngest is only 14 months old or so, are now in the custody of their aunt and uncle, Nixon's brother.

LISA DESJARDINS: Do we know anything about the motive here?

BRIAN MUNOZ: That's an excellent question.

And there's so many things that are unknown.

From what I have gotten from family and friends this week is, the motives are known.

Really, these folks were on their way to register a motorcycle that Nixon had with their youngest daughter when they were ambushed by assailants.

They don't know who, they don't know the motives, but their families and friends have been left grieving.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, ICE sent you a statement reading in part: "ICE remains committed to removing criminal aliens from our community by enforcing immigration laws and maintaining the integrity of our borders."

Did either of these two have a criminal record?

BRIAN MUNOZ: Yes, so, Nixon, the only thing I could find, and as it was also pointed out in the ICE statement, was, he was cited and charged with driving without a license in 2024 in suburban St.

Louis.

There was about a $200 fine that was paid.

And ICE said that there were two drunk driving charges in Overland, Missouri.

I scoured the court system that's publicly facing that would have those records in it, and I wasn't able to find them.

They also pointed to a 2010 citation in Palm Beach, Florida, where Nixon was charged with an ordinance violation for having an open container, but it appears the prosecutors ended up not pursuing that case.

LISA DESJARDINS: And we know that traffic stop you mentioned, the fine, that is usually a misdemeanor.

Glendy, I want to talk about her as well.

She had filed for asylum, as you said.

She was awaiting a hearing next year, when she self-deported.

What does this case and her fate tell you about the system overall?

BRIAN MUNOZ: Yes.

I think this case is indicative of a system that advocates say is broken.

So, right now, right before this interview, I looked at the track -- online immigration case tracker, and it says that there are roughly 45,000 to 50,000 backlogged cases in the Kansas City Immigration Court, which oversees the entire state of Missouri and Kansas.

Of those, about 11,500 or so are backlogs in asylum cases.

So attorneys for immigrants across the state are telling me, we're waiting years and years and years to be able to even get a hearing.

And right now, the rules are changing so much that it's difficult to best serve our clients and to give them a fair shake, because we don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next.

LISA DESJARDINS: You mentioned new rules.

There is a new rule on asylum from the Trump administration this week, which means that essentially most applying for asylum will go straight to an immigration judge and won't get an interview.

What do you think that means for the system?

BRIAN MUNOZ: Absolutely.

So it is a challenge for folks that are trying to represent these immigrants in immigration court.

On one hand, of course, the backlog is most likely going to be reduced, but advocates and attorneys tell me that it's going to be incredibly challenging to make a case to these judges that are only taking a minute or two to go through them because there's so many on the backlog.

So, yes, this thing is going to move a little more expeditiously, but advocates and attorneys warn that they feel like they may be a little hamstrung on best representing their clients.

LISA DESJARDINS: Brian Munoz, thank you for your reporting, and we will keep following what you're saying.

BRIAN MUNOZ: Thank you for having me.