A man who voted for President Donald Trump said he has no regrets about his decision after his wife was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Immigration officials arrested Bradley Bartell’s wife, Camila Muñoz, after the couple returned home from their honeymoon in Puerto Rico in February.
Nevertheless, Bartell told Newsweek that he stands by his decision to vote for Trump in the latest presidential election. “I don’t regret the vote,” he said.
Muñoz is a Peruvian citizen who came to the United States on a work-study visa in 2019. While living in Wisconsin, she met Bartell, and the two quickly entered a serious relationship. They married during the pandemic, which is around the time Muñoz’s visa lapsed. Since then, she had been working to obtain permanent residency.
When the couple tried to return to the continental U.S., an immigration agent pulled Muñoz aside to ask if she was an American citizen. She admitted that she was not and tried to explain that she was in the process of getting a green card.
Despite being married to a U.S. citizen, she was arrested and remains in a detention facility in Louisiana. Muñoz has no criminal record.
ICE did not respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the situation.
During the early days of his presidency, Trump has sought to crack down on immigration and deport undocumented immigrants en masse.
Bartell told Newsweek that the ordeal has been painful.
“It’s all been a nightmare really, taking things as they come and moving forward,” he said. “We have an attorney. The system for getting people through seems to be very inefficient, so it is taking longer than it should.”
Bartell said that he doesn’t blame the president.
“He didn’t create the system, but he does have an opportunity to improve it,” he told Newsweek. “Hopefully, all this attention will bring to light how broken it is.”
Despite standing by Trump, Bartell isn’t afraid to criticize ICE and its procedures.
“ICE never really has any information, it seems,” he said. “The system needs to be revamped for better processes and communication between departments.”
The couple met in the tiny town of Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., which has a population of 3,000. They married after dating for two years but hadn’t been able to go on a honeymoon during the pandemic.
They were saving up for a house together, and Muñoz was already caring for Bartell’s 12-year-old son, according to USA Today. She worked and paid taxes.
Bartell shook as he watched his wife taken away. It took him a week to track down her whereabouts, although the two have since spoken on the phone.
While Trump has said that his initial immigration crackdown will target dangerous criminals, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed at a press conference in January that people who overstay their visas will not be spared.
“If an individual is overstaying their visa, they are, therefore, an illegal immigrant residing in this country, and they are subject to deportation,” she said.
Bartell has launched a GoFundMe to raise money to fight for his wife’s release as well as the bond, which he said could be as much as $10,000. The campaign has raised nearly $900 of its $3,000 goal.
