Texas law enforcement officers stopped a family for a “traffic lane issue” and then reported the driver to ICE. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, is married to a US citizen and has two US-born children. He has no criminal record, according to the family’s immigration lawyer, and is currently working on securing his green card.
“The husband is currently undocumented,” the family’s immigration lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, wrote on social media. “Because of his manner of entry, he has to go through the consular process to get legal status.” According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, the consular green card procedure might take anywhere from two to six years.
During the three-hour traffic stop, the man’s wife and children were left waiting on the side of the road. One of their children, a newborn, went without food or diapers throughout that time. The immigration lawyer chastised federal authorities for hauling him in, arguing that he will still receive a green card.
“The end result of his case will be exactly the same, the only difference is that we added one more person to the already overburdened immigration court system,” she told me.
While getting permanent residence through marriage is generally an easy legal process, U.S. residents who marry someone who entered the country illegally face a longer and more difficult journey.
Lincoln-Goldfinch mourned the end of the Biden administration’s Keeping Families Together initiative, which aimed to give an expedited legal residency pathway to more than 500,000 undocumented spouses of US citizens. A federal court stopped the proposal, leaving thousands of mixed-status families vulnerable to separation through deportation.
“It would’ve allowed people like this client to get protection from deportation, get a work permit, get legal status quickly,” Lincoln-Goldfinch went on. “This is the result of the policies that are in place right now.”
Before Trump’s administration, multiple Texas law enforcement agencies partnered with ICE, and analysts believe that relationship will grow during his second term. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has committed to enhance deportation operations and border security with the assistance of federal officials. The state has also offered the Trump government land to establish detention facilities and boost border wall construction.
Reports of ICE arrests across the country are surfacing online. While federal officials claim to be focusing on arresting and deporting migrants with criminal records, analysts predict an increase in “collateral arrests,” in which undocumented citizens discovered near targeted migrants are also imprisoned.
“If anyone else is in the house, in the car, or anywhere near that person and they reveal their immigration status or lack thereof, they will be arrested,” Lincoln-Goldfinch explained, adding that no reports of large-scale raids had been received yet.
When it comes to potential traffic stops, the lawyer urged undocumented individuals to drive only when absolutely necessary, and to let family members with US citizenship drive whenever possible.
ICE announced 593 arrests on Friday and 286 arrests on Saturday. During the 2024 federal fiscal year, the agency made about 310 arrests every day.
