a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland women's prison in jessup, maryland4 months passed. then afaf khalifa, the only bargaining chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. >> she was suddenly gone. >> reporter: deported back to egypt. before the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael shannon knew she'd been released from prison. >> were you notified? >> no. no. the office was not notified that she'd been paroled, nor that there would be any action taken by immigration officials. at the time. >> reporter: if you're wondering how that could have happened, you're not alone. the state department told cnn it doesn't interfere in deportation cases, that is up to the u.s. immigration service. and no one from immigration has returned multiple phone calls and e-mails, asking for comment. michael shannon hired the lawyer who arguably knows more about international child abduction than anyone in the country, who believes the u.s. government not only has done nothing to help, it may have expedited afaf khalifa