A series of arrests carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in San Diego has upended long-standing expectations surrounding marriage-based green card interviews, with multiple spouses of U.S. military personnel detained during what they believed would be routine final steps toward permanent residency. The incidents, involving applicants with no criminal records beyond visa overstays, have triggered widespread alarm among immigration attorneys, lawmakers and military families who say the enforcement shift undermines a process historically viewed as safe for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.
Witnesses reported a pattern beginning in mid-November, when ICE agents entered interview rooms at USCIS field offices and handcuffed applicants directly in front of their spouses and children. Retired Marine Staff Sergeant Samuel Shasteen said the government's actions shattered the trust military families place in the legal immigration system. "I kind of feel betrayed," he said after agents detained his wife, Chanidaphon Sopimpa, during their appointment.
Attorneys in San Diego describe the shift as unprecedented in modern practice. What had long functioned as a de facto safe zone for spouses seeking lawful permanent residency now appears to operate as a point of enforcement, raising the risk that lawful entrants with expired visas could be detained before their marriage-based petitions are adjudicated. Legal advisories circulating locally state that arrests began around November 12 and have continued in the weeks since, affecting several dozen applicants.
Immigration lawyers argue the new practice reinterprets standard eligibility rules under INA §245(a), which allow spouses of U.S. citizens who entered the country legally to adjust status regardless of visa expiration. Instead of permitting adjudication, ICE is treating such overstays as grounds for immediate detention and potential removal, even when applicants have no criminal record, pending applications and U.S.-citizen children.
The shift has raised broader concerns about data-sharing between USCIS and ICE during the interview process. Attorneys say information collected for adjudication now appears to be used in real time to facilitate arrests, creating what families describe as a "trap" dynamic. Some spouses were detained moments after verifying their identity or confirming visa history, according to multiple legal accounts.
Advocates warn that the consequences extend far beyond individual families. Breaking up military households, they argue, risks damaging service-member morale and recruitment at a time when the Pentagon has struggled to meet enlistment targets. Military families have historically been assured that the adjustment-of-status process for foreign-born spouses would be protected from sudden enforcement actions, a guarantee many say has now eroded.
For applicants navigating upcoming interviews, the fallout is immediate. Attorneys are urging clients-particularly in San Diego-to treat USCIS appointments as potential enforcement encounters, to attend only after legal consultation and to prepare contingency plans for detention. Some lawyers now advise bringing notarized childcare arrangements and emergency documentation in case parents are separated.
