Canadian mother reportedly detained in the U.S. as Trump-voting husband feels 'totally blindsided'
A Canadian woman has been detained in the U.S. during her green card interview for being in the U.S. illegally, California-based KGTV reported Thursday.
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Cynthia Olivera's green card interview was on June 13 in California. As she went into the interview room, her husband, Francisco Olivera waited outside. 'We feel totally blindsided. I want my vote back,' Francisco told KGTV after Cynthia was detained.
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Trump voter feels "blindsided...betrayed" after wife arrested by ICE at green card interview: 'I voted for change. But I didn't vote for THIS change.'
Last year, Canadian Cynthia Olivera, 45, who'd been in the U.S. since age 10, got a work permit under the Biden administration.… pic.twitter.com/64T7VPlD0j
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 5, 2025
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Francisco is a U.S. citizen and self-identified Trump voter. The U.S. president's promises to deport dangerous criminals appealed to the couple but they didn't think Cynthia's lack of legal U.S. status would be a problem — no criminal charges were found under Cynthia's name by KGTV. 'The U.S. is my country,' Cynthia told KGTV from an immigration detention centre in El Paso, Texas. 'That's where I met my husband. That's where I went to high school, junior high, elementary. That's where I had my kids,' she continued.
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The 45-year-old was born in Canada and taken to the U.S. by her parents when she was 10 years old. In 1999, when Cynthia was 19 years old, U.S. border officials determined she was living in the country without a legal status and an order was obtained to deport her.
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After being removed, Cynthia returned within a few months to the U.S. by driving to San Diego from Mexico, The Guardian reports. 'They didn't ask me for my citizenship – they didn't do nothing. They just waved me in,' Cynthia told KGTV.
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The facts of his case were laid out in a joint submission filed with the court and seen by CBC Hamilton. The six people from Mexico entered Canada through Montreal and Toronto airports in 2018 and 2019, and worked for Roca Morales while living in squalid conditions in Hamilton. He determined their pay, how much they supposedly owed him and delayed payments. He would verbally berate and threaten to physically harm them, take away their jobs or housing, or have them arrested, while dressing in camouflage and at times carrying a gun, said the joint submission. He sexually assaulted one of the women and told others he wanted to impregnate them, it said. Another woman who lived in his apartment said she was "fearful the whole time ... as he was always drinking and violent toward his wife," the court document said. Roca Morales restricted when they could bathe, when they could go outside and what they could eat. Upwards of 12 people would live in one of his houses at a time, which were infested with bedbugs, cockroaches and mice. One man "opened the fridge and saw cockroaches pour out of the crisper," said the joint submission. At his sentencing hearing, Roca Morales called some of the victims "criminals" and told the judge to "f--k off."
