Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz had a classic small-town love story—until immigration policies tore them apart.
They met through mutual friends, went on their first date at a local steakhouse, and married two years later. They were saving for a house and planning a family. Muñoz had already embraced the role of stepmother to Bartell’s 12-year-old son.
But their world changed last month. While returning home to Wisconsin from their honeymoon in Puerto Rico, an immigration agent at the airport questioned Muñoz.
"Are you an American citizen?" the agent asked.
Muñoz, originally from Peru, answered truthfully—no, she wasn’t. But she and her husband had followed legal steps to secure her path to U.S. citizenship. That didn’t stop officials from detaining her.
A Policy Shift Sweeps Up Families
Millions of Americans, including Bartell, voted for Donald Trump’s promise to remove "criminal illegal immigrants." However, the enforcement effort expanded to include individuals like Muñoz, who were actively pursuing legal status.
Alongside Muñoz, ICE has detained several other women under similar circumstances. One woman, married to a U.S. citizen, has lived in the country for over 30 years. Another, a legal permanent resident with U.S. citizen family members, first arrived in the U.S. as a teenager. A European woman, now in her 30s, overstayed her visa when she was 21 and is engaged to a U.S. citizen. Additionally, a woman engaged to a U.S. legal permanent resident, with whom she has lived for nine years, was also detained.
None of these women have criminal records. They were all in the midst of legal immigration proceedings when they were detained at airport checkpoints in February.
"Anyone Is at Risk"
Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana, warns that any immigrant without full citizenship should be cautious about travel.
"The unfortunate reality is that they have to be worried," Ahmed said. "If you are not a U.S. citizen and are in an immigration process, you must consider how this process could be turned against you."
David Rozas, Muñoz’s immigration attorney, echoed this sentiment: "Anyone who isn’t a legal permanent resident or U.S. citizen is at risk—period."
Before she was taken away, Muñoz removed her wedding ring, afraid it might be confiscated. She placed it in her backpack and handed it to Bartell. As she was led away, he was left standing, shaking, and thinking, "What do I do?"
The Consequences of Overstaying a Visa
Overstaying a visa is an administrative violation, not a criminal offense. Under U.S. immigration law, overstaying can lead to a ban on returning for up to ten years. However, waivers exist for those married to U.S. citizens.
Despite this, the government has broad authority to detain immigrants, even those with pending legal applications.
"If an individual is overstaying their visa, they are therefore an illegal immigrant residing in this country, and they are subject to deportation," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in January.
Bartell never saw Muñoz as an "illegal immigrant." He met her in Wisconsin, where she had initially worked legally on a visa. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel, she overstayed her visa but continued working and paying taxes. The couple submitted applications to obtain her green card, believing she was protected.
ICE Under Pressure to Increase Arrests
Trump’s administration has pushed ICE to ramp up detentions, removing top officials early on over frustrations that numbers weren’t rising quickly enough. Targeting convicted criminals takes significant manpower, but airport checkpoints offer an efficient way to detain multiple immigrants at once.
"ICE is widening the net in a chilling way," said Jesse Franzblau of the National Immigrant Justice Center. "People who wouldn’t have been targeted before are now being detained."
A Painful Separation
It took Bartell days to locate his wife. Nearly a week after her detention, her name finally appeared in an ICE system database. She had been transferred to a privately run detention center in Louisiana.
On a video call, her curly black hair was unkempt. She wore a tan uniform, which signified her lack of a criminal record. She was one of nearly 80 women in her dormitory.
"Emotionally, I’m worried about her," Bartell said. "Being trapped in a room with 100 people—it’s just so wasteful."
The cost to detain an adult in 2020 was $282 per day, according to the American Immigration Council.
Muñoz worries about Bartell’s son. She wonders if he’s eating well and missing her Peruvian cooking. Meanwhile, the couple’s savings, once earmarked for a home, are now tied up in attorney fees and a possible bond payment for her release.
Rethinking His Vote
Both Bartell and Muñoz have been reflecting on his decision to vote for Trump.
"I knew they were cracking down," Bartell admitted. "I just didn’t know how it was happening."
He had envisioned a crackdown on people who crossed the border illegally, not on individuals like his wife, who had been vetted and were in the system.
"They know who she is. They know where she came from," he said. "They need to finish the vetting process instead of locking these people up. It doesn’t make any sense."