Las Vegas, Nevada — What was supposed to be the final step toward legal stability instead became a handcuff moment that has reignited outrage over the tactics of U.S. immigration enforcement.
A U.S. Marine veteran is now pleading publicly for the release of his wife after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested her inside a long-awaited green card interview—a move critics say weaponizes the immigration system against families who follow the rules.
A Five-Year Wait Ends in Detention
Diana Butnarciuc, who legally entered the United States from Moldova in 2008, arrived at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interview in Las Vegas believing she was finally nearing lawful permanent residency. Instead, ICE officers entered the interview and took her into custody, transferring her to the Henderson Detention Center.
Her husband, Patrick Baja, a Marine veteran, said the couple had waited five years for the appointment. What they received was not due process—but detention.
“This wasn’t a traffic stop or a border encounter,” Baja said. “This was a government appointment we were told to attend.”
Legal Compliance, Punished
Butnarciuc previously applied for political asylum, which was denied in 2018, resulting in a removal order. Like many immigrants advised by counsel, she later pursued a lawful path through marriage to a U.S. citizen. In 2020, Baja filed an I-130 petition—a required and legitimate step toward permanent residency.
Her attorney, Darren Heyman, says she has no criminal record, has never been jailed, and complied with every instruction from immigration authorities.
Yet ICE acted not as a neutral enforcer of the law, but as an ambush unit—waiting until she appeared voluntarily at a federal office before arresting her.
Enforcement or Entrapment?
Civil rights advocates argue that this case exposes a deeper problem: immigration enforcement that discourages compliance by turning legal processes into traps.
“If showing up to your interview gets you detained, what incentive does anyone have to follow the law?” one advocate asked.
ICE’s decision to arrest Butnarciuc during a USCIS interview blurs the line between civil immigration enforcement and punitive policing. It sends a chilling message to immigrant families: cooperate, and you risk detention anyway.
A Family in Limbo
Heyman says he will seek bond and challenge the removal order once the green card process resumes. But for now, a U.S. citizen veteran is separated from his wife, and a family that followed the system is paying the price.
The case underscores the growing uncertainty facing immigrant families—even those with legal counsel, clean records, and pending petitions—under an enforcement-first approach that prioritizes arrests over resolution.
A System on Trial
This is not just a story about one family. It is a warning about an immigration system increasingly defined by fear, unpredictability, and punitive tactics—where legality offers no protection, and compliance can become a liability.
For critics, the question is no longer whether immigration laws should be enforced, but how—and whether enforcement has lost sight of fairness, proportionality, and basic humanity.
As Baja continues to fight for his wife’s release, the system that promised order and justice now stands accused of something else entirely: turning hope into a setup, and due process into a door that closes the moment you walk through it.
No comments:
Post a Comment