Guatemalan couple shot dead after ICE deportation; toddler found dehydrated

A Guatemalan couple's attempt to reunite following an ICE deportation ended in tragedy when they were shot to death in a sugarcane field in their home country.

Details of the Incident

Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz and his wife, Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz, were found gagged with their hands and feet bound, showing signs of physical trauma, according to St. Louis Public Radio. Their 14-month-old daughter, Giovanni, was discovered crying next to her mother, suffering from dehydration. She is now recovering in a medical center.

"I felt that they took the thing I wanted most," Rolando Pérez Paz, the victim's brother, told STLPR. "I felt a huge pain because it was my brother, my sister-in-law—people that wanted to work, to fight."

The ICE Detention

Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz and his brother Ronaldo were driving to their roofing jobs in April 2025 near their home in Overland, Missouri, when ICE agents stopped them. The agents emerged from an unmarked car and pulled them out of their white work van. They told the men there was no warrant for their arrest but detained them for lacking legal status.

The Decision to Self-Deport

González de la Cruz initially remained in Overland, giving birth to their daughter last year and working two manual labor jobs to support the couple's three children. However, financial pressures mounted, and she feared being detained and separated from her children despite having an active asylum case, organizers with St. Louis immigrant rights group Fuerza told STLPR. She ultimately decided to self-deport to Guatemala with her children to join her husband.

Disappearance and Discovery

The couple was reported missing in Guatemala on July 20 after attempting to register a motorcycle in a nearby town, Rolando Pérez Paz told the radio outlet. In recent months, the family had struggled financially and faced violence and issues with the federal government—the same problems that had originally driven them to seek asylum in the United States.

ICE's Response

An ICE spokesperson told STLPR that Nixon Pérez Paz had two convictions for drunk driving, but the outlet found no court records to confirm that account. The spokesperson also claimed he had an open container charge in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2010, but prosecutors had dropped that case.

Family's Grief

"If immigration hadn't picked up my brother, my sister-in-law would still be alive, and the children wouldn't be going through this sorrow," Ronaldo told the radio outlet. He is now caring for his three young nieces but does not know how to explain their parents' deaths to them.

"Unfortunately, immigration—the [U.S.] government—doesn't see that. It makes no difference to them."

Editor's Pick: Ohio's Republican Governor Warns Trump Against Deporting Haitians

Trump Struggles to Identify Who He's Negotiating With in Iran

Even Fox News is confused as to who exactly President Trump has been negotiating with in Iran.

President Trump claimed this week that he's talking to Iran "right now," but Iran's foreign ministry has fervently denied that claim, saying it's not interested in direct negotiations. When asked about the contradiction on Fox News Tuesday, Trump struggled to explain.

"We hear that you're talking right now with leaders on Iran," Fox News's Brian Kilmeade said. "But Iran has come out publicly and said, 'We're not talking to the U.S.'"

"Well, they just came out and said 'We are talking' a little while ago," Trump interrupted.

"So could you tell me who you're talking to, Mr. President?"

"For some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion, and they'll come out and say, 'We're not talking' or 'We didn't discuss nuclear.' Well, that's all we discussed, because they'll never have a nuclear weapon, they understand that," Trump said, avoiding the direct question. "We've had some very good talks."

He then changed the subject entirely, instead discussing recently deceased Senator Lindsey Graham's insistence upon an Iran deal—a surprising position, if true, given the late senator's hawkish approach to foreign policy.

"He was very much a hawk … [even] he was somebody that said it was a good time to make a deal.… Lindsey liked war, to be honest with you."

It does not inspire confidence when the president cannot confidently say who he has been in contact with while supposedly trying to negotiate an end to his increasingly unpopular policy.