US federal immigration authorities have begun detaining individuals, including spouses of US citizens, during scheduled Green Card interviews at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in San Diego, according to recent media reports.
Immigration attorney Saman Nasseri, based in San Diego, told local news outlet CBS8 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are now routinely arresting people who are out of status—specifically visa overstays—when they appear for their permanent residency interviews.
“ICE and USCIS have started implementing a policy where ICE is now making arrests at USCIS offices during the green card interviews on anyone who is a visa overstay, so if they’re out of status, ICE is making that arrest at the interviews,” Nasseri said.
He reported that five of his own clients were taken into custody in a single week during their scheduled interviews. Nasseri emphasised that none of these individuals have any criminal record.
“None of my clients have any arrests or criminal history that are in this situation. These are just cases where they entered legally, and they overstayed their visa. All of my cases right now are people that have been married to US citizens, so these are spouses of US citizens that are going through the normal process, the normal channels, and they’re being taken into custody,” Nasseri added.
Another San Diego immigration attorney, Habib Hasbini, confirmed he has experienced the same pattern with his clients.
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“The first one was November 12, the eve of the memo that came down from ICE. After that, I had four to follow through, but I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from people who were arrested from the same facility,” Hasbini told CBS8. To date, Hasbini said, these arrests appear to be occurring only at the USCIS field office in San Diego and not at other locations.
Despite the risk, Hasbini advised clients with upcoming interviews to still attend their appointments. Failing to appear can lead to the application being denied for abandonment. Moreover, because these individuals are already out of legal status, they remain subject to arrest by ICE at any time, even if they skip the interview.
He recommended that people prepare in advance by arranging childcare, notifying employers, and ensuring family members know what to do in the event of detention.
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