{"id":379880,"date":"2025-11-15T04:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T04:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/379880\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T04:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T04:11:11","slug":"attorney-details-arrest-of-client-during-green-card-interview-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/379880\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney details arrest of client during green card interview \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

A San Diego immigration attorney whose client was arrested during his green card interview Wednesday said it was \u201cshocking and disturbing,\u201d in part because Immigration and Customs Enforcement has generally not taken people into custody in that setting before. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was honestly one of the more devastating interactions that I’ve had with immigration officials,\u201d said Tessa Cabrera, adding that neither she nor her client expected his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked right at me and was like, \u2018My world was just torn apart,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Multiple immigration attorneys said ICE has detained at least a handful of people during their interviews for legal status<\/a> at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in San Diego and placed those individuals into deportation proceedings. USCIS is the agency responsible for processing visa and green card applications, overseeing the legal pathways to permanent residency and citizenship \u2013 largely separate from ICE\u2019s enforcement arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really unprecedented what is happening, and we\u2019re a little bit confused as to why these arrests are occurring or what the criteria is for these arrests,\u201d attorney Noemy Cruz said. \u201cWe don’t expect that there is a risk for them to be detained because we don’t have any reason to believe they would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabrera said her client has been in the U.S. since 2002, has no criminal history and is a father of two U.S. citizen children. His 21-year-old daughter sponsored his green card application, Cabrera said, and he\u2019s the primary caregiver for his 17-year-old son with severe autism.<\/p>\n

Cabrera said on Wednesday morning that they were at his final green card interview \u2013 which she said are often largely a formality, the final step in the process \u2013 and when he finished answering the standard questions, the immigration officer stepped out and two ICE agents came in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very abrupt. No reason,\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cThey came in. They directly asked him his name. He said his name, and they said, \u2018Stand up.\u2019 And they took him to the side of the office. They put his hands behind his back, put him in handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us both by surprise,\u201d she continued. \u201cHe had parked his car at a trolley station and took the trolley into downtown. I had his keys. I had to, like, get a hold of his daughter to try and explain where his car was parked so someone could go get the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabrera said he was taken to the Otay Mesa Detention Center, with a bond hearing scheduled for next week. But she added that he\u2019s still eligible for that green card, and she still doesn\u2019t understand exactly why he was arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s basically the question that I’ve been asking myself for the past couple days,\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cThis is not something that I’ve ever seen happen to anyone at USCIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are excited to be getting their green cards and citizenship,\u201d she continued. \u201cTo walk into an office expecting to leave with at least somewhat of good news and then to be taken out in handcuffs and now detained and separated from your family \u2013 it was really horrifying to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE has not responded to multiple requests for comment on this tactic, or specific arrests like this, or that of an 18-year-old detained the same day in a similar manner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A USCIS spokesman said in a statement Thursday that the agency \u201cis responsible for administering America\u2019s lawful immigration system and ensuring the integrity of the immigration process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency protects the public safety and national security interests of the American people by screening and vetting aliens coming to this great nation,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cAliens\u00a0in our country\u00a0must\u00a0respect our laws or face the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the White House Friday morning, President Donald Trump\u2019s Border Czar Tom Homan addressed criticism of heightened enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons no one talks about, why we have the most secure border in the history of this nation is because exactly what ICE is doing,\u201d Homan said. \u201cICE has sent a message to the whole world, don’t give your life savings to come to the country because you’re not going to be released<\/p>\n

Cabrera said the arrest of her client felt like a violation of what she called a \u201cpeaceful\u201d legal pathway.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally it just feels like a show of force by the administration to, you know, meet their numbers in detaining people, and especially in this situation, felt extremely unnecessary,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She and others said the increased arrests have created a great deal of fear for anyone in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don’t show up to their interview, that’s a denial of their case, right? If they don’t show up to their court case, that’s a removal order,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThere’s very serious consequences for not coming to their appointment. And, you know, we can’t blame them for being afraid to do them because they’re trying to do things the right way and are being punished for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz was among several attorneys and advocates who held a vigil outside USCIS Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m disgusted with the way we’re treating our immigrants,\u201d David Patterson said.<\/p>\n

When Patterson and Verna Silvia heard about the arrests at USCIS, they came down from Ramona to attend the vigil and show how they feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere these people are trying to do it the legal way,\u201d Silvia said. \u201cWhy are we arresting them or taking them away?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A San Diego immigration attorney whose client was arrested during his green card interview Wednesday said it was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":379881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,409,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-379880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115551763457019938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}