US citizens' wives and husbands are being arrested during their green card interviews, accused of overstaying their visas.
Green card interviews end with handcuffs for spouses of US citizens. Immigration officials have begun arresting foreign spouses during their final permanent residence interviews. They accuse them of visa violations and threaten deportation, according to The New York Times.
Last week, couples filed into the federal building in San Diego one after another for an interview that would be the final step toward a green card for one of the spouses. US citizen Steven Paul arrived with his British wife and four-month-old son. Audrey Hestmark arrived with her German husband (they were to celebrate their first wedding anniversary in two days). Jason Cordero arrived with his Mexican wife.
Everyone thought it was a celebration: all that was left was to pass the interview, and permanent residence would be in their pocket. Instead, as soon as the officer finished the interview, agents burst into the room, handcuffed the foreign spouse, and led him away.
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"I had to take our child from my crying wife," Steven Paul, 33, recalled of the moment agents announced they were arresting his wife, Katie.
Katie Paul was sent to an immigration detention center along with hundreds of others caught up in the Trump administration's latest wave of crackdowns.
The husband was forced to take leave from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to care for their son and try to get his wife out of jail.
"It's insanity to tear a family apart," Paul says. "Whoever gives such orders has completely lost touch with reality and with what this country exists for."
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In recent weeks, immigration attorneys in several cities have reported a sharp increase in the arrest of foreign spouses of Americans at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices.
In San Diego alone, local advocates estimate that several dozen people have been detained since November 12, the day this tactic was first used. The exact number is unknown: many couples attend standard interviews without a lawyer, meaning no one raises the alarm. The government doesn't officially disclose the number of such detentions.
In all cases, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents claimed the foreign spouse had "overstayed a tourist or business visa." One arrest warrant, reviewed by The New York Times, stated that "there is probable cause to believe" that the individual "is subject to removal from the United States."
ICE spokesman Matthew Tragesser stated, "Detentions at USCIS offices may occur if active warrants, removal orders, fraud, criminal activity, or other immigration violations are discovered." ICE, however, is the one conducting the arrests.
But the couples and their lawyers insist that all the necessary steps were completed—thick folders of documents were submitted, fees were paid, fingerprinting and a medical examination were completed. No one has any criminal records. Everyone entered the country legally. Everyone has already been issued work permits.
"In 25 years of practice, I've never seen anything like this," admits Joanna Kimi, the Paul family's lawyer. "They did everything according to the rules. What's next? Take away the green cards of millions who've gone through the same process?"
The problem is that tourist visas for adjustment of status applicants often expire during the months-long process. A 1986 law explicitly allows spouses who entered legally to obtain a green card through marriage even after their visas expire.
"Congress has been very clear: these people are eligible for a green card," said Doug Rand, a former senior USCIS official under Biden.
Formally, the law does not prohibit detaining and initiating deportation proceedings against such spouses, but previously, this was almost never done at the green card application stage.
No new orders, regulations or policy changes were announced by ICE.
"US citizens were simply not warned that their wives and husbands could now be arrested," Rand emphasizes.
The arrests come amid personnel changes within ICE, including in the California region. All efforts are being made to expedite the fulfillment of Trump's campaign promises of mass deportations.
Typically, the foreign spouse receives green card approval right at the interview or within a few days after.
Audrey Hestmark, 38, and her husband, Thomas Bilger, 40, from Germany, arrived at their San Diego office on November 20 in high spirits—they had their first wedding anniversary in two days, and Thomas was eager to become a U.S. resident by that date.
A robotics engineer from Germany fell in love with Audrey while on business trips. The couple dated for four years and married on November 22, 2024. The wedding was cowboy-themed—that's what Tom wanted.
They immediately hired a lawyer, collected a mountain of documents from both countries, brought to the interview photographs with the groom's parents in Hawaii, joint rental agreements, bank statements, and utility bills.
The officer asked the usual questions. The last one was whether her husband had overstayed his visa. Thomas answered honestly, "Yes," and cited his lawyer's words as saying that it wasn't a problem.
"Suddenly, three masked men wearing bulletproof vests and armed with guns burst into the room and announced that they had a warrant for Tom's arrest for unlawful presence," Audrey recalls.
They handcuffed her husband, slipped her a card with a QR code for the ICE website, and took him away. He didn't contact anyone until the next morning. He was transferred from a basement in downtown San Diego to an immigration detention center, where he remains.
"I'm an American citizen," Audrey states. "Tom is the love of my life, he was just born in Germany. We were definitely deceived."
"We did everything right," she adds. "And now Tom is suffering. We're all suffering, including Tom's parents, who are going crazy worrying about their only son."
Some Americans hire lawyers and post bail to get their spouses out of jail. After their release, they have to fight through immigration court to obtain a green card, which means years of backlogs.
"It appears the government's goal is to force people to give in and agree to deport their spouse," attorney Andrew Nitor suggests.
Jason Cordero, 26, shared his story: his wife, Lyudmila, a Mexican citizen, was taken to a detention center after her arrest last week. She now suffers from severe anxiety and panic attacks.
The couple married earlier this year. Jason, from a modest family, worked two jobs to support his family. They recently moved from a studio apartment to a one-bedroom apartment in Oceanside.
"We were slowly getting back on our feet," he shares. "And then three ICE agents take Lyudmila away for an expired visa. She's crying, even the officer conducting the interview is crying."
The agents forced the wife to remove her bracelets, earrings, and wedding ring; she put everything in a small brown purse and handed it to her husband.
"I was shocked, my heart was broken," Cordero recalls. "We were as respectful as possible—after all, we'd seen a lot of news about immigration."
He kissed his wife goodbye and went to find a lawyer, who had filed a motion for a bail hearing. Jason was willing to spend all his savings just to get his wife out and reapply for a green card.
“I love this girl very much and I don’t want to let her go,” he assures.
Katie and Steven Paul met in an online game over two years ago. Their correspondence blossomed into a romance, and Katie visited him several times on the British visa-free program (for stays of up to 90 days). They traveled to Japan with his family and married last October, and two days later, they learned Katie was pregnant. Their son, Alan, is now four months old.
The green card application was submitted in July.
Last week, the interview was going well until three ICE agents walked in and announced that Katie, holding the baby, was under arrest.
Lawyer Joanna Kimi, who was in contact with the couple by phone, was outraged – this had never happened before.
"I was speechless with shock," she says.
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According to Stephen, the agents themselves said that they did not agree with what was happening, but “they were ordered to grab everyone in sight.”
"It's just wrong," he concludes.
When Paul learned that his wife was facing deportation without trial, his lawyer filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego to stop the removal and free Katie.
As a result, on November 25, authorities unexpectedly approved her green card and released the woman.
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