• Retired Marine says he feels “betrayed” after wife detained during final immigration interview
• Immigration attorneys report unprecedented enforcement tactic began November 12 in San Diego
• Detainees include spouses with no criminal history who entered the country legally

SAN DIEGO (TDR) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have begun arresting military spouses during green card interviews at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in San Diego, a practice immigration attorneys describe as unprecedented and deeply alarming.

The arrests, which began around November 12, have swept up spouses of active-duty service members and veterans despite having no criminal history beyond visa overstays. Multiple immigration attorneys say they have never seen anything like it in their careers.

Military Veteran Feels ‘Betrayed’

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Samuel Shasteen, a retired Marine Staff Sergeant who served 20 years including two deployments to Afghanistan, watched ICE agents handcuff his wife during what should have been her final step toward permanent residency.

On November 18, Shasteen and his wife Chanidaphon Sopimpa, originally from Thailand, attended her green card interview at the San Diego USCIS office. Everything seemed to go well until ICE agents entered the room at the end.

“I kind of feel betrayed, to be honest,” Shasteen told NBC San Diego. “When we do our immigration papers, it asks you if you’re military. Everything that you upload for documents shows you’re part of the military, or your service. So they know.”

Shasteen lost his first wife to cancer in 2022. He met Sopimpa at a coffee shop in downtown San Diego and they married two years later. While she had overstayed her visa, attorneys say federal law has traditionally provided exceptions for spouses of U.S. citizens going through the green card process.

Attorneys Call Practice Unprecedented

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Immigration attorney William Menard reported that his client, an Australian woman married to a Navy veteran, was arrested the same day as Sopimpa. She was released on bond after eight days in detention.

Attorney Saman Nasseri told CBS 8 that five of his clients were detained in a single week. All were spouses of U.S. citizens with no criminal history who entered the country legally.

“These are cases where they entered legally, they overstayed their visa, all of my cases right now are people that have been married to U.S. citizens,” Nasseri said. He added they were simply going through normal channels when detained.

ICE Defends Enforcement Actions

ICE maintains that anyone unlawfully present in the United States may be subject to arrest, including at federal sites like USCIS offices.

“ICE enforces immigration law against all unlawfully present aliens — criminal history is not a prerequisite for enforcement,” the agency said in a statement.

The arrests appear limited to the San Diego USCIS office for now, though attorneys warn the practice could expand nationwide.

Will ICE’s aggressive new enforcement tactic at green card interviews spread beyond San Diego?

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