For spouses, green card interviews turn into arrests

The married couples filed into a federal building in San Diego last month for green card interviews that they believed would secure their future together in the United States. Half of each pair was American. Stephen Paul came with his British wife and their four-month-old baby. Audrey Hestmark arrived with her German husband, days before their first wedding anniversary. Jason Cordero accompanied his Mexican wife.

It was supposed to be a celebratory milestone, the final step in the process to obtain US permanent residency. Instead, as each interview with an immigration officer wrapped up, federal agents swooped in, handcuffed the foreign spouse and took him or her away. “I had to take our baby from my crying wife’s arms,” Paul, 33, said, recalling the moment that agents said they were arresting his wife, Katie.

Katie Paul was sent to an immigration detention centre with hundreds of other people swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown. Her husband had to take a leave from his job at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to care for their child and try to secure her release.

“It’s insane to have them rip our family apart,” Stephen Paul said. “Whoever is directing this has completely lost touch with their mission to the country.”

In recent weeks, immigration lawyers in several cities have seen a surge in arrests of foreign spouses of Americans during interviews at US Citizenship and Immigration Services offices. The arrests have come amid the president’s widening campaign against immigration.

After an Afghan immigrant was arrested in the killing of a National Guard member and wounding of another near the White House this past week, President Donald Trump vowed to re-examine all asylum requests granted during the Biden administration, and to review the green cards of people from 19 nations that he has subjected to a travel ban.

In San Diego alone, immigration lawyers in the region estimate that several dozen foreign-born spouses have been detained since November 12, when the new tactic first surfaced, according to Andrew Nietor, an immigration lawyer. A former chair of the San Diego chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Nietor said the estimate was based on members’ communications about their clients. The exact number of spouses detained is unclear because many couples attend the routine interviews without lawyers, who would alert colleagues. The government has not disclosed a tally of such detentions.

In every case, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the applicants that they had overstayed tourist or business visas. An arrest warrant, reviewed by The New York Times, states that “there is probable cause to believe” that the named spouse is “removable from the US.”

“Apprehensions at US Citizenship and Immigration Services offices may occur if individuals are identified as having outstanding warrants; being subject to court-issued removal orders; or having committed fraud, crimes or other violations of immigration law while in the United States,” said Matthew Tragesser, an agency spokesperson, noting that the arrests were typically carried out by ICE. But the couples and their lawyers said they had followed the required steps: They had submitted extensive paperwork and paid fees. The foreign spouses had been fingerprinted and passed medical exams. None had criminal records. None had entered the country illegally. They had already been granted employment authorisation. “In 25 years of practice, I have never seen anything like this,” Johanna Keamy, the Pauls’ lawyer, said, echoing the view of other lawyers. “What’s next? Revoking green cards from millions who followed these same steps?”

Green-card applicants’ temporary visas often lapse while their “adjustment-of-status” proceeds over several months or longer. An immigration statute passed by Congress in 1986 allows a spouse who entered the country lawfully to be eligible for a green card through marriage even if the person’s visa has expired.

“Congress was unambiguous — these people are eligible for green cards,” said Doug Rand, who was a senior official at Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration.

While federal law does not prohibit spouses with expired visas from being detained and placed in deportation proceedings, in the past they have rarely been detained while applying for green cards.

The Trump administration is carrying out such detentions without having announced any change in policy.

The recent spate of arrests comes amid a leadership shake-up at ICE, including the San Diego region, designed to accelerate and advance the president’s agenda. Ordinarily, foreign spouses of Americans are approved for US permanent residency during or shortly after the in-person interview.

Audrey Hestmark, and her husband, Thomas Bilger reported to the government office in San Diego on November 20, hopeful he would have his green card for their first wedding anniversary two days later.

“Tom was super excited to become a US resident, so much so that he had insisted on a cowboy-themed wedding,” said Hestmark, a registered nurse.

They immediately hired a lawyer and assembled documents from Germany and the US to support their petition. At the interview, they brought requisite evidence that their marriage was legitimate — photos of a vacation to Hawaii with his parents; leases, bank statements and utility bills in both names; and other records. The officer asked routine questions. But the last one, according to Hestmark, was whether her husband had ever overstayed his visa. He responded truthfully and cited their lawyer’s assurance that this was a non-issue.

“Suddenly, we were ambushed by three masked men in bulletproof vests with guns who told Tom they had a warrant for his arrest, that he is here unlawfully,” Hestmark recalled.

The agents handcuffed her husband, gave her a card with a QR code for the ICE website and took him away. She did not hear from him again until the next morning. He has been bounced between a basement in downtown San Diego and an immigration detention centre, where he remains.

Some US citizens have hired lawyers to seek the release of spouses, through actions such as posting bond. Once released, the foreign spouses must try to pursue green cards through immigration court, where judges are grappling with yearslong backlogs. Nietor, the immigration lawyer, said the government’s strategy appeared to be to induce the couples “to give up and abandon their cases and accept the foreign spouse’s deportation.”

Katie and Stephen Paul met on a gaming platform more than two years ago. Their friendship flourished into a romance, and she visited him several times under the visa-waiver programme for British nationals, which permits stays of up to three months at a time. She joined his family on a trip to Japan, and the couple married last October. Two days later, they discovered she was pregnant with Alan, now four months old.

They filed their green-card petition in July. Their interview this month was going smoothly, he said, until three ICE agents walked in and informed them that Katie Paul, who was holding her infant, was under arrest. Their lawyer, Keamy, who was participating by telephone, objected, saying this had never happened before.

Stephen Paul said the agents had told him that they disagreed with the directive to arrest his wife but that they had to follow orders. After Stephen Paul learned from his wife that the authorities were threatening to deport her without a hearing, he said, their lawyer filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego to halt her removal and secure her release. In response, the government approved Katie Paul’s green card and freed her.