The small town is now rallying for her release, calling her a "fabric of our community" and asking the government to "bring Carol home."

Carol Mayorga is a homeowner, a mother of three children, and "everything you could ask for in an employee" who sometimes works up to three jobs.

In her rural town of Kennett, Missouri, Carol is active in the Catholic church and works at a popular diner, where customers refer to her as the "most uplifting person you could hope to know."

"She always has a smile," said Lisa Dry, a friend of Carol's and a member of the Kennett City Council. "She'll hug you, she'll greet you. She always wants to know what's going on. She'll share stories of her kids and how proud she is of their scholastic awards."

Carol, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, came to the U.S. from Hong Kong more than 20 years ago. On April 30, everything she's built for herself and her children came to a crashing halt: Carol was arrested by federal immigration officials after they called her to their office in St. Louis for what she thought was a routine meeting.

"They put her in shackles and handcuffs," Dry said. "They literally chained her and put her into a room and left her for seven hours."

Since then, she's been moved to multiple jails in Missouri. Immigration officers told her she's overstayed a long-expired tourist visa and is facing deportation.

Local perspective:

Back in Kennett, news of Carol's detention spread fast. It didn't take long for the rural farming town to rally around what they see as "the fabric of our community."

Her bosses at John's Waffle & Pancake House met with Carol's attorney. They've called local officials and written to members of Congress. Her employers also organized a "Carol Day" fundraiser at the pancake house that raised nearly $20,000.

"Carol is a wonderful mother, works really hard, does everything for her children," said Liridona Ramadani, whose family owns the restaurant where Carol works. "As an employee, I don't know where to begin. She never called in, showed up every day with a smile, my right hand basically. If someone couldn't come in 10 minutes before their shift, Carol would be there."

Carol's children, ages 14, 12 and 7, are struggling without their mother. Her oldest son has autism and is taking it especially hard. Dry said Carol's children may not fully grasp the gravity of the situation, but they've said if their mom goes to Hong Kong, they want to go, too.

"Not realizing that she expects to be homeless," Dry said. "She has no family left there ... she certainly doesn't want her children there in that situation."

"Nothing matters more to her than her kids, her family, her partner, and the family they've created together," her attorney Raymond Bolourtchi said. "She misses the children terribly. She has limited access to her network of support. She's got good moments and bad moments, but it's really tough on her. From one night to the morning, she lost it all."

The backstory:

Carol's status in the U.S. is complicated. Bolourtchi said Carol came to the U.S. from Hong Kong as a visitor in 2004 and "got some really ill guidance," paying $2,000 for a "sham marriage" around 2005.

The government became suspicious of Carol's marriage, Bolourtchi said, and after an investigation immigration officials began deportation proceedings around 2007.

"A single day doesn't go by that she doesn't regret the choices she made in the past," Bolourtchi said.

Carol applied for asylum, citing severe abuse by her mother in Hong Kong, but it was denied by multiple courts. She's been under a deportation order for more than a decade, but the government has never carried out the order. Instead, they've allowed her to remain in the country under what's called orders of supervision, and also granted her authorization to work in the U.S.

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"When she had children, her circumstances changed," Bolourtchi said. "Her son is autistic. She has three U.S. citizen children. She has qualifying relatives. The government opted not to deport her."

Her most recent order of supervision was extended through August 2025. When the government arrested her in April, they said her order of supervision was being terminated.

Big picture view:

Cases like Carol's are becoming more common across the nation as President Donald Trump's administration continues to crack down on immigration.

"Carol is not an aberration," Dry said. "There are others, I'm sure, who are just as wonderful as she is, or have family ties, community ties, who are being wrongfully sent from their homes and their communities."

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In Carol's corner of Missouri, where Trump won 80% of the vote, the community is faced with the dichotomy of supporting Carol, while also supporting Trump's aggressive immigration agenda.

"I'm still behind Trump, however I don't agree with what happened to Carol," a Kennett resident commented on Ramadani's Facebook page.

"I don't know that people have made the connection necessarily with what has happened to Carol as a part of the policies that they voted for," said Dry, a Democrat. "But they've also said, 'This isn't what I wanted. I wanted criminals deported, you know, and gangs, not Carol.' They can't reconcile what has happened to her."

What's next:

Carol remains at the Greene County Jail in Springfield, Missouri. Bolourtchi has asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen her case and grant an emergency stay to stop the deportation. Both requests are pending.

Bolourtchi said there's no reason for Carol to be detained while her case proceeds. She has always complied with orders from the government, and she's not a flight risk.

"If you want her to leave, fine," he said. "But there's no reason to detain her. She's not going into hiding. She's not a danger to anyone. She's a mother to three kids.

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"If we're going to enforce our laws, we should do it in a compassionate and humane way," Bolourtchi continued. "There has to be a way that we can come to a solution that doesn't break our neighborhoods, our communities."

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on Carol's case unless we provided her date of birth and Alien Registration Number, but ICE also did not respond to comment requests from other news outlets.

"She belongs at home, with the people who love and need her," Ramadani said. "We all miss her."