A Texas family experienced an unexpected and distressing turn of events during a routine traffic stop when law enforcement officers reported the driver to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The man, whose identity has not yet been released, is married to a U.S. citizen and has two U.S.-born children. According to the family’s immigration lawyer, he has no criminal history and is in the process of applying for a green card.
The Incident: Traffic Stop Leads to ICE Detention
The family was stopped for what law enforcement described as a “traffic lane issue.” However, the situation escalated when the driver, an undocumented immigrant, was handed over to ICE officials. During the three-hour stop, the man’s wife and children were left waiting on the side of the road, with the infant child lacking food and diapers during the ordeal.
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the family’s immigration attorney, shared the news on social media, calling out the federal authorities for the detainment. “The husband is currently undocumented,” Lincoln-Goldfinch explained, “and because of his manner of entry, he has to go through the consular process to get legal status.” This process, she added, could take anywhere between two and six years to complete.
Despite the man’s ongoing green card application, Lincoln-Goldfinch criticized the government for detaining him. “The end result of his case will be exactly the same,” she said. “The only difference is that we added one more person to the already overburdened immigration court system.”
The Struggles of Mixed-Status Families
While obtaining permanent residency through marriage is generally considered a straightforward process, couples where one spouse is undocumented face a much more complicated path. U.S. citizens who marry undocumented immigrants are often forced to endure lengthy and complex legal proceedings, especially if the spouse entered the country illegally.
Lincoln-Goldfinch also lamented the loss of a Biden administration program, Keeping Families Together, which was designed to expedite legal residency for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. The program, which could have benefited the detained man, was blocked by a federal court, leaving thousands of mixed-status families vulnerable to separation by deportation.
“It would’ve allowed people like this client to get protection from deportation, get a work permit, get legal status quickly,” the lawyer stated. “This is the result of the policies that are in place right now.”
Escalating ICE Operations and State-Level Collaboration
The collaboration between Texas law enforcement agencies and ICE is not new, but experts predict that this partnership will increase in intensity during Trump’s second term. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to ramp up deportation operations and border security, offering land to the Trump administration to build new detention centers and expand the border wall.
Reports of ICE arrests are circulating nationwide, with the agency focusing on detaining individuals with criminal records. However, experts warn that there will likely be an increase in “collateral arrests,” where undocumented individuals who are in close proximity to the targeted person—such as family members or passengers—are also detained.
“If anybody else is in the house, in the car, or anywhere around that person, and they divulge their immigration status or lack thereof, they’ll get caught up in the arrest,” Lincoln-Goldfinch explained. While large-scale raids have not yet been reported, the increase in arrests has left many concerned.
Advice for Undocumented Individuals
Given the heightened risk of ICE detentions, Lincoln-Goldfinch advises undocumented individuals to drive only when absolutely necessary. She also recommends that family members with U.S. citizenship take the wheel whenever possible to reduce the risk of detainment during traffic stops.
ICE reported making a total of 593 arrests on Friday and 286 arrests on Saturday. In the 2024 federal fiscal year, the agency averaged approximately 310 arrests per day. As the crackdown continues, many immigrants and their families are left to navigate the growing uncertainty surrounding their status in the U.S.
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