A Wisconsin man who voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election is now expressing alarm after his Peruvian wife was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month.
Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz were on their way home to Wisconsin from their honeymoon in Puerto Rico last month when immigration officials approached them at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, David Rozas, an immigration attorney representing Muñoz, told HuffPost on Wednesday.
Muñoz had overstayed her J-1 exchange visitor visa, and her immigration status is pending following her marriage to Bartell, a United States citizen, Rozas said.
The lawyer said the couple did not have their documents for the adjustment of Muñoz’s status with them at the airport, prompting immigration officials to detain her.
She was taken to a Miami detention center before being transported to an ICE facility in Louisiana, Rozas said.
“As of right now, we have not been able to get a court date for her bond. We are waiting for her to be put in the system. That is what’s going on,” Rozas said.
Bartell told USA Today in a story published Sunday that he was worried about his wife.
“Emotionally, I’m concerned for her,” he said. “It can’t be easy being trapped in a room with 100 other people. They don’t have anything in there. It’s just so wasteful.”
Muñoz’s detention comes as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on immigrants of any status. Despite the president and his allies saying they will focus on “violent criminals,” people with no criminal history have also been detained by ICE.
Rozas confirmed to HuffPost that Muñoz does not have a criminal record.
Bartell told USA Today that he does not see his wife as one of the “illegals” Trump promised to deport.
He added that his wife initially came to the U.S. on a legal visa, and he had believed the Trump administration would only focus on people who had crossed the border unlawfully.
“I knew they were cracking down. I guess I didn’t know how it was going down,” Bartell said.
In spite of all that’s happened, Bartell told Newsweek he doesn’t regret casting a ballot for Trump.
“I don’t regret the vote,” he said.
He went on to call for a reform of ICE and expressed hope that Trump will improve the immigration system.
“He [Trump] didn’t create the system, but he does have an opportunity to improve it,” Bartell said. “Hopefully, all this attention will bring to light how broken it is.”