The Government has been heavily criticised for the night-time deportation last week of a Burundi national and her two young children living in Co Mayo.
Social workers and doctors involved in the case condemned the action on humanitarian grounds, saying the family is in "very real danger".
Members of the Garda Immigration Unit called to the hostel in which Ms Olivia Nzayishimy and her two daughters, Chantal (7), and Sheila (5), were staying, at 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday, packed their belongings into plastic bags and drove them to Dublin by car. They were transported to Heathrow Airport the next morning, and interviewed by British Home Office officials.
Ms Loretta McDonagh, a Mayo-based counsellor who treated Ms Nzayishimy, said: "This woman is highly troubled. A serial rape victim, she witnessed her parents and her 10-year-old son murdered in her homeland."
The family was staying in a hostel used by the Mayo Rape Crisis Centre in Kiltimagh. They were said to be "shocked and terrified at the ordeal". Sources close to the family claimed no letter of warning was received by them, or by the centre.
Deportation normally occurs when an application for asylum is rejected. An appeal is then heard and, if that is also turned down, a deportation order is given and fifteen-day's notice is served on the failed applicant.
"We appealed this case on compassionate grounds. This woman has suffered enough trauma in her life . . . All of our attempts to highlight her terrible distress have so far fallen on deaf ears," said Ms McDonagh.
Concern was also expressed for the safety of the two young children, who were watching television as gardaí arrived.
Mrs Ruth MacNeely of the Mayo Rape Crisis Centre said, "For a civilised society to do that to young children who have already suffered immensely is disgraceful. Imagine the fear they must have felt being taken into a car and driven to Dublin by three strange men."
Ms Nzayishimy's case was put to the Taoiseach's office directly as well as submitting a compassionate plea to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, both of which failed to stop the deportation order being carried out.
A spokesman for Mr McDowell told The Irish Times: "The Minister is not prepared at this stage to comment on the specifics of any individual case. The matter would no doubt have gone through the proper motions and any such compassionate pleas would have been taken into account at the appeal stage."
"We are not prepared to discuss the details of any one case but in essence we did what we were ordered to do," a Garda spokesman said.
Ms Nzayishimy and her daughters are currently in the custody of the British Home Office. All attempts to contact her on her mobile phone have failed.