PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- A Painesville man, recovering from head injuries suffered in a car accident, was deported to a Mexican border town where he was kidnapped by "a Mexican crime cartel" and is being held for ransom, according to his lawyer.

The story of Francisco Narciso, and that of a woman who is scheduled to be deported next week, were told to more than 300 people in the Painesville town square Thursday afternoon as part of a protest against increased activity by U.S. immigration agents against undocumented immigrants living in the United States that have otherwise committed no crimes.

Attorney Elizabeth Ford, an immigration attorney from Chardon, said Narciso's treatment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was unacceptable, even though he had been deported several years ago and returned.

"They basically dumped him out at the border in the middle of the night in a dangerous Mexican community with no regard for his safety," she said. "He was kidnapped by a criminal cartel and is now being held for ransom. Why would our immigration officials treat a man this way?"

Ford explained that Narciso was in a car accident on June 15. He suffered severe head injuries when his car was struck in the rear by another vehicle. After it was determined that he had no license, Ford said Mentor police cited him and alerted ICE. Narciso pleaded guilty on July 13 and fined $269 but when he exited the courthouse he was arrested by ICE agents.

Because Narciso had previously been deported in 2006, he was not subject to a review before an immigration judge and was deported on Tuesday.

"He was still being treated for head injuries," said Ford. "I had spoken with immigration and was told they would delay deportation until December to allow him time to recover, but then on Monday I was told it was happening the next day. I filed an appeal, but he was deported anyway."

She said he was flown to Laredo and immediately deported.

"They took him to the border in the middle of the night and just deported him," Ford said. "He was kidnapped almost immediately." Narciso's family is negotiating with the kidnappers for his release. They did not attend the protest.

ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls declined to comment on Narciso's situation or about agents walking deportees to the Mexican border and releasing them in an unfamiliar city.

Deporting Mexicans has been a constant source of tension for Mexican officials worried that migrants become magnets for criminal groups who kidnap, extort and too often recruit them for criminal activities.

"We have expressed our concerns to U.S. authorities several times in the past," said one Mexican official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

This is especially a bloody time in Nuevo Laredo in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas where in recent few years the deadly Zetas organization has evolved into the CDN, Cartel del Noroeste, or Northeast Cartel. The CDN controls not just drug routes, but smuggling and "every criminal activity imaginable," said Arturo Fontes, a former veteran FBI agent now working as a private investigator in the border region. He was once stationed in Laredo and threatened by the Zetas.

"It's a common occurrence," he said. "You have vulnerable people who are dropped off at the border, in a city that doesn't belong to them and they have something precious, whether it's a vehicle, jewelry, or relatives in the United States that these criminals can extort."

Fontes added that cartels prey on migrants who go north or are headed south, adding that he suspects CDN was behind the smuggling operation in which scores of migrants were found crammed in a sweltering 18-wheeler in San Antonio last weekend. Ten people died and more than a dozen others were hospitalized with life threatening injuries.

"Migrants are money makers," Fontes said. "They're vulnerable. They're easy prey."

Ford and Veronica Dahlberg, executive director of the immigrant support group HOLA, decried ICE's actions at Thursday's rally.

Dahlberg said her calls to ICE and to the Mexican consulate about the situation went unanswered.

The rally was also for Beatriz Morelos Casillas, a Painesville mother of four who is scheduled to be deported Tuesday.

She came to the United States about 20 years ago at the age of 17 and was arrested last Sunday.

"She was driving home when she passed an Ohio Highway Patrol officer who had stopped another car on I-77," said Ford, who represents Casillas as well as Narciso. "She apparently did not pull totally into the other lane and the trooper stopped her."

She was cited for driving without a license and police turned her information over to ICE. Because Casillas, 37, was once caught trying to enter the United States illegally earlier, she is not being permitted a hearing before an immigration judge or being allowed to post bond and is scheduled for a swift deportation.

"My wife works for a factory, she works seven days a week with no days off, no health insurance and no benefits," said her husband, David DeJesus Casillas at the rally. "She has never been arrested for a crime, never hurt anyone, and now she will be taken from her family."

He cried as he addressed the crowd with their children ages 4 to 12, huddled around him.

Ford and Dahlberg said that it is within ICE's discretion to pardon Casillas but feared it would not happen.

They said there has been a huge crackdown on immigrants since Donald Trump took office.

According to ICE, "Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly has made it clear that ICE will no longer exempt any class of individuals from removal proceedings if they are found to be in the country illegally.

"ICE agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security...but when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law," the website says.

Said Dahlberg: "They are going after anyone whose skin is brown. These are the people that pick your crops and shine your shoes and do nothing illegal, yet they are being arrested and deported all the time."

Also speaking at the rally were two Hispanic women, Ana Padilla and Dora Ascosta, who are running for Painesville City Council.

They said they resent that Painesville police are eager to turn in immigrants to ICE that come to the police departments attention.

They said as council members they would oppose such cooperation.

With additional reporting from Alfredo Corchado of the Dallas Morning News.