By William Menard / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / December 12, 2025
Immigration officers have ignited a global outcry recently as masked ICE agents have patrolled communities across the country, arresting people at their homes, work and schools. While this is extremely distressing, ICE is now taking actions that have received much less attention but are just as concerning: arresting immigrants lawfully applying for green cards.
A few weeks ago, I was preparing my client and her husband for their green card interview at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service field office in San Diego. My client was from Australia, lawfully entered the United States, and had no criminal record whatsoever. While she was here, she fell in love with her husband, a U.S. citizen and veteran of the U.S. Navy who received numerous commendations during his service. They lived together with their dog in a San Diego suburb.
My client’s only issue was minor — she had overstayed her visa in the United States for a few months. This was extremely typical. Federal statute explicitly permits spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residence even if they had previously overstayed a visa. I had submitted hundreds of nearly identical applications in the past without any issue.
The three of us arrived at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service field office in San Diego, and everything seemed normal at first. However, once we went into the interview, I became increasingly concerned about how long the interview was taking. Then, while my client was answering questions, I looked out the window of the office door and saw someone else getting arrested.
Soon, three ICE officers walked in and detained my client. She looked at me with terror; she was both surprised and scared about what would happen next. As I was leaving the room, one of the officers asked me to fix this, that he wanted to focus on dangerous criminals and not people like my client. My client’s husband exclaimed that he served this country, and said, “This is what I get?” No one seemed to think this should be happening.
My client called me every day from the Otay Mesa Detention Center, about a mile from the Mexico border southeast of San Diego. My client let me know that nine women were arrested that same day for the exact same reason, and many more continued to be brought to Otay Mesa every day. She knew of no one who had a criminal record.
During these calls, we would periodically be interrupted by loud cheers from other women in her detention area when one of them was released from prison. It was clear that these women, forced into detention, had developed a support system and were all rooting for each other. I had never heard anything like it.
Eight days after her arrest, the immigration judge finally issued my client a $1,500 bond, and she was released later that night, a few hours before Thanksgiving. The prison nightmare was over.
ICE has repeatedly stated that its goal is to focus on “criminal illegal” immigrants and remove “public safety and national security threats from our communities”; however, this is not happening. As of November, about 48% of those detained by ICE have no criminal record at all, while another 26% have pending criminal charges but have not been convicted.
These detentions are harming immigrants and their families. It is well-documented that detention has long-lasting negative impacts on a person’s mental health and causes strains in family relationships. Moreover, ICE is adding to an already overburdened immigration court system — the current backlog exceeds 3.6 million cases and is growing every year. ICE is delaying resolutions and justice for numerous immigrants every day and causing immense strain on overworked judges and court staff.
Finally, this will undoubtedly cause a decrease in legal immigration and drive unlawful behavior. If so many people continue to be arrested trying to do things the right way, they just won’t try, often receding into unlawful status and hiding from immigration officers — a situation no one wants.
These arrests are continuing to happen in San Diego and elsewhere in the country, and they need to stop.
Menard is an immigration attorney based in Encino.
