Estela Ramos GoFundMe raises over $82000 as MSNBC journalist Jacob Soboroff announces deported LA track star Nory Ramos' mom’s death

The unexpected passing of Estela Ramos Baten, a 45-year-old mother who was deported from Los Angeles to Guatemala earlier this year, has led to an outpouring of grief and support, including a GoFundMe campaign that has raised over $82,000 to help her daughter, an honor student and track star Nory Sontay Ramos, move forward without her.

On July 4, Ramos and her daughter were deported after a routine immigration check-in in Los Angeles, after having lived in the U.S. since 2016. Just two months later, on September 8, Estela died in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, after having collapsed at home.

Her daughter said her mother was full of stress and fear during that time since returning, and terrified of being located by the same gang who had threatened her six years before.

NEW: Recently we reported on L.A. honor student and track star Nory Sontay Ramos and her mom Estela, deported after a routine immigration check-in. Weeks after we met them in Guatemala, where they were in hiding, Estela died suddenly. With @kaybguerrero.https://t.co/aOFJFs4qea

— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) September 15, 2025

Estela's death was first reported by MSNBC journalists Kay Guerrero and Jacob Soboroff. Soboroff confirmed the news during a segment about the family's situation.

Nory Sontay Ramos, 18, talked about spending the last hours of her mother's life arguing with Estela to go to a doctor. Estela had said that she had a headache for three days, and her blood pressure was elevated, but she did not want to go to a doctor out of fear. Hours later, Estela collapsed, and her daughters could not revive her.

Local authorities designated liver cirrhosis as the official cause of death, but Nory continues to maintain that losing her mother's medications during the deportation process left them unable to maintain proper care for her condition.

"I want people to know that my mom’s medications were taken away and not returned... They took away my mother’s medicine. I had no way to help her," she told MSNBC.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement challenged this narrative, claiming Estela received medical treatment while in custody. However, her family maintains the position that her medications were never returned when she was deported.

Community pulls in to support Nory Sontay Ramos

Estela Ramos Baten's funeral was in Momostenango, the rural village where she was born and in which her threats from the gang had originated. Her coffin bore Guatemalan and U.S. flags, representing the split life she'd lived with her children.

The tragedy has affected many in Southern California, where Nory Sontay Ramos was recognized as both an honor student and a student athlete. A former teacher, Darcy White, established a GoFundMe site for Nory to assist with daily living expenses and allow Nory to continue her studies while in Guatemala.

Two weeks before she died, when we visited her in Guatemala, Estela told me "I feel at ease seeing Nory go to school... but here, we can't go out." pic.twitter.com/Hv4BtituZg

— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) September 15, 2025

The account has already raised over $82,000 with donations coming from across the United States and even overseas.

"I want Nory to be able to have access to money/cash as she navigates this new life, now without her mom. She has family nearby but prefers to stay where she is currently, with memories of her mom in the apartment they shared," the campaign read.

White referenced that the proceeds will go to helping with essentials like food, clothes, internet access, and rent so that Nory can remain in her apartment in Turkey while staying connected with family and friends back in the U.S. Part of the proceeds may also go to legal fees as she pursues a route of return to Los Angeles.

Communications from supporters and donors have highlighted the profound sympathy for the Ramos family. “Deportation killed her,” Estela’s partner, still in Los Angeles, told MSNBC. The story has become, for many, a chilling lesson about the human costs of immigration policy.