Trump Supporter Still Backs President After ICE Arrests Wife: ‘I Don’t Regret the Vote’
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
A man whose wife is being held in an immigration detention facility said he does not regret his vote for President Donald Trump, whose administration is conducting sweeping detentions and deportations of immigrants.
In February, Bradley Bartell and his wife Camila Muñoz, a Peruvian national, went on their honeymoon in Puerto Rico. When they returned to the mainland, immigration officials asked Muñoz about her legal status. She reportedly replied that she was not a citizen and was in the process of obtaining a green card. Muñoz was detained and sent to a facility maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Louisiana.
Bartell, who voted for Trump, said he still supports the president.
“I don’t regret the vote,” Bartell told Newsweek in an article published on Wednesday. “It’s all been a nightmare really, taking things as they come and moving forward.”
He said the couple has an attorney but, “The system for getting people through seems to be very inefficient, so it is taking longer than it should.”
Bartell also reported receiving harsh messages from people online.
“I’ve received a lot of hateful messages, plenty of people saying we deserve this. And a lot of other insults,” he added, stating that if his wife is sent back to Peru, he may consider moving there, but “it would be very difficult for my son.”
Bartell said he hopes the episode will come to Trump’s attention so the president sees “how broken it is.”
“He didn’t create the system, but he does have an opportunity to improve it,” Bartell added. Newsweek added that Muñoz is expected to remain in custody pending a resolution.
It’s unclear if Muñoz is being held at the same Louisiana facility as Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old recent Columbia University graduate who was in the U.S. on a student visa and a green card. On Saturday, Khalil – a lawful permanent resident – was arrested at his home in front of his pregnant wife. Khalil was an organizer of some of the pro-Palestine protests on campus last year. The Trump administration has accused him of engaging in activities that “align to Hamas.” He has not been charged with a crime.
