ICE Agents Arrest Migrants During Green Card Interviews, Causing Concern Among Families Across the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered green card interview rooms in San Diego, arresting at least two undocumented immigrants in front of their American spouses and a six-month-old infant, according to a report by The Mirror US.

The incidents occurred last week. This came days after the November 12 start of a series of similar arrests reported by immigration attorneys. Several attorneys say they have “never seen” this type of operation within USCIS offices, which families generally view as administrative spaces, not arrest zones.

According to The Mirror US, two couples agreed to speak publicly. They don’t know each other but describe nearly identical scenarios. In both cases, the foreign spouses—a German national and a British national—had overstayed their visas, married U.S. citizens, and were following the standard “adjustment of status” procedure to obtain green cards.

Both couples explain that their attorneys reassured them that visa overstays are generally forgiven in the context of marriage-based green card applications, provided there are no criminal records. Neither the German national nor the arrested British mother has a criminal record, their families assert.

The arrests occurred at the very end of the interviews, the final step in a process that often lasted several months or even years.

“Three masked men, with bulletproof vests and weapons, came in and told us they were going to arrest Tom,” recounts Audrey Hestmark. Audery is the American wife of Tom Bilger, a German national who came to the United States on a visa before their marriage last year. The couple filed for a green card after their wedding.

At another USCIS office in San Diego, Stephen Paul also witnessed, stunned, the arrest of his British wife, Katie. “We see ICE agents arrive, and they say they’re arresting Katie,” he explains.

The couple decided to remain in the United States for her high-risk pregnancy. They chose this instead of returning to the United Kingdom while awaiting the green card decision.

According to Paul, their attorney had assured them that U.S. law allowed them to apply for a green card from within the country, given their marriage and medical and family circumstances.

Audrey Hestmark describes her experience of the intervention.

She says she asked for the agents’ identification: “I asked for their names. They never gave me their full names,” she says. “They did not show me their badge numbers or remove their masks. They just said: ‘We have a warrant for his arrest,’ then handed me a QR code.”

According to her testimony, the agents then handcuffed her husband before taking him away, forbidding her from following.

Stephen Paul says his wife was shocked by the arrest. “She asked what was wrong and what we had done. We had done everything right,” he says.

In the British mother’s case, the arrest occurred while she was holding their barely six-month-old baby, The Mirror US adds.

When questioned about these operations, ICE responded in a statement to the newspaper that it is “committed to enforcing federal immigration laws through targeted operations that prioritize national security, public safety, and border security.”

The agency notes that even in federal facilities like USCIS offices, people in the country illegally remain subject to arrest:

“Individuals unlawfully present in the United States, including those who are out of status at federal sites such as USCIS offices, may be subject to arrest, detention, and removal in accordance with U.S. immigration law,” the statement continues.

According to The Mirror US, ICE repeated this position verbatim when questioned the following Friday after these new San Diego arrests.

These operations, which took place during legalization processes, have caused concern among immigrant communities and attorneys. For many couples, USCIS offices represent the possibility of legal stability, not a place where immigration enforcement occurs after their interviews.

Immigration attorneys cited by The Mirror US say this type of arrest at the end of green card interviews is unprecedented in their practice. They worry about the deterrent effect on migrants who, despite legitimate marriages and strong family ties in the United States, might avoid attending their appointments for fear of arrest.

For affected families, the impacts are immediate: a spouse arrested, a parent separated from their infant child, and uncertainty about the future, even as they believed they had followed all procedures correctly.

“We had done everything they asked us to do,” Stephen Paul repeats. “We were told it was the right procedure. And despite all that, they arrested her.”