Rosmery Alvarado, a Guatemalan immigrant married to a recently naturalized U.S. citizen, was detained Wednesday after arriving at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field office for what she believed was the first step in her residency process, according to her daughter, Carina Moran, who shared the experience in a social media post.
Newsweek has reached out to Moran via Facebook Messenger, GoFundMe account, and left a message with her employer. Newsweek has also reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and USCIS via email on Friday.
Why It Matters
Alvarado’s detention comes amid an immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, during which some people with valid documentation—including green cards or visas—have been detained and face legal jeopardy. Her family maintains that Alvarado was seeking to stay in the U.S. through legal pathways, with her husband becoming a naturalized citizen in March.
President Donald Trump vowed to prevent illegal immigrants with criminal histories or backgrounds from entering and staying in the U.S. He has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history and has detained and deported thousands of people in recent months.
Others have also been detained after appearing at Department of Homeland Security offices, including Mohsen Mahdawi, a U.S. permanent resident for 10 years who was detained by ICE agents in Colchester, Vermont, during a naturalization interview, and Cliona Ward, who is being held at San Francisco International Airport after delivering requested paperwork.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon/ GoFundMe
What To Know
A Pittsburg, Kansas resident, Alvarado has lived in the U.S. for more than decade. Her husband, Nixon, who was born in El Salvador, became a U.S. citizen last month. Moran and her siblings are U.S. citizens.
Moran’s father filed a form re-petitioning for his wife Alvarado to begin the green card process shortly after obtaining his citizenship, and both of them received official documentation requesting their appearance at the field office, according to CBS 42.
On Wednesday, Moran and her parents arrived at the Kansas City USCIS field office, Moran recounted in a Facebook post, noting that agents separated her parents and then detained her mother, writing, “She was taken out the back side of the building and put into a white van.”
Alvarado is being held at an ICE facility several hours away in Chase County, Moran said. Newsweek has been unable to confirm Alvarado’s location in the ICE detainee database.
“We were told she will be sent back to her country within 2-3 days,” she wrote in the post. Her mother has a deportation order from failing to appear in court as a minor, according to CBS 42. Newsweek has not confirmed the deportation order.
Moran has set up a GoFundMe for legal expenses and “medical care for her diabetes and tumor treatments.”
What People Are Saying
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Newsweek: “The Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws—something the previous administration failed to do. Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained and removed as required.”
Carina Moran told CBS 42: “It feels like she’s been stripped away from me, and I feel like I’m never going to see her again. I’ve been with my mom my entire life. I don’t know what it’s like to not have her. [I] have to tell my younger brothers that they’re not going to get to see their mom. It makes me feel awful to see my dad struggling the way he is.”
What Happens Next
It is unclear what the next steps in her immigration case are. The family’s attorney has filed a deportation stop which is awaiting approval.