ICE Arrest Man After Green Card Taken Away
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Immigration agents reportedly confiscated a man's green card during an encounter at Los Angeles International Airport earlier this month, according to Fox 5 San Diego.
Raul Sanchez, a long-term permanent resident from the South Bay area, was apprehended by federal authorities on July 2 and has since been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Otay Mesa.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, ICE, as well as the family for comment.
A federal agent wears a badge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement while standing outside an immigration courtroom at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York, Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
A federal agent wears a badge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement while standing outside an immigration courtroom at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York, Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
yU/AP
Why It Matters
The family has been left devastated by the separation under President Donald Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The White House has said anyone living in the country illegally is considered to be a "criminal."
The administration is enacting plans to carry out what it calls the largest deportation operation in U.S. history as part of the Republicans' hardline immigration agenda.
In addition to people living in the country without legal status, immigrants with valid documentation, including green cards and visas, have been detained. Newsweek has revealed dozens of cases involving green card holders and applicants who were swept up in the ICE raids.
What To Know
Sanchez, 50, was detained while driving to an immigration appointment in San Ysidro, near his home, Fox 5 San Diego reported.
His daughter, Alejandra Sanchez, told the outlet the ordeal began in April when her parents returned from a trip to Europe.
"My dad has been separated from us, and there could be a possibility of him completely being removed from us," his daughter, Alejandra Sanchez, told Fox 5 San Diego.
Brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a toddler, Sanchez has lived in California for nearly five decades.
According to his family, he built a life as a devoted father, husband and hard-working member of his community.
But a nonviolent drug conviction from 2001, for which he served time in his 20s, has resurfaced amid the Trump administration's more aggressive enforcement priorities.
Immigration attorney Saman Nasseri told Fox 5 San Diego that many old cases like Sanchez's are now being reopened.
Newsweek has previously revealed allegations of misconduct and abuse at ICE-run detention centers in Otay Mesa, California, including cases of sexual assault, medical neglect, and mistreatment of migrants.
What People Are Saying
Alejandra Sanchez told Fox 5 San Diego: "We have a huge community rallying around him and a lot of people aware of what's going on."
Attorney Saman Nasseri told Fox 5 San Diego: "I have about a dozen or so cases from 12-13 years ago that are now getting reopened with the court too."
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