The foreign-born spouses of several US citizens have been detained during green card interviews, the US media has reported. Dozens of such detentions have been made since November 12 at the immigration office in San Diego, reports suggest. The spouses were also reportedly charged with violating visa norms.
The green card, or the permanent residency card, allows an immigrant to live and work in the US permanently. For many newly married couples, getting a green card meant a new beginning together in the US.
But the San Diego experience wasn't what they expected.
Among those detained were British and German nationals and even new mothers with babies born only a few months ago. After each interview, the New York Times reported, federal agents swooped in and took the foreign spouse away in handcuffs.
"I had to take our baby from my crying wife's arms," Stephen Paul was quoted as saying as his British wife, Katie, was taken away. "It's insane to have them rip our family apart." Katie was taken to a detention centre while her husband had to apply for leave at his job to care for the baby, while trying to secure her release alongside.
The spouses of some military veterans were among those detained during their green card interviews, with the action sparking a feeling of betrayal among those who once served the nation on a foreign land thousands of miles away.
Samuel Shasteen, who spent 20 years with the US Marines, is one of them. Speaking to NBC San Diego, he said he feels betrayed after his Thailand-born wife was detained. "We do everything that we can to protect and serve our country, and then they betray us by treating us like we've never done anything," he said.
The action is part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Adopting a hard stance, the president has now vowed to stop immigration from third-world countries in the backdrop of the shooting by an Afghan near the White House.
A statement attributed to the immigration department said that "all aliens" violating immigration law may be arrested, detained, and removed regardless of their nationality.
"ICE enforces immigration law against all unlawfully present aliens—criminal history is not a prerequisite for enforcement. Being unlawfully present in the United States is itself a violation of federal law," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier said.
