A Wisconsin man who voted for US President Donald Trump before his wife was detained by immigration agents has started a fundraising page to free her.
Bradley Bartell, who told Newsweek he did not regret voting for the president, is looking to raise $3,000 towards Camila Muñoz’s release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Bartell started the fundraiser on GoFundMe after the couple’s story began circulating earlier this week. His wife was detained as they returned home from a belated honeymoon in Puerto Rico last month, and she has been held in a Louisiana detention centre ever since.
“It’s all been a nightmare really, taking things as they come and moving forward,” Bartell told Newsweek. “We have an attorney. The system for getting people through seems to be very inefficient, so it is taking longer than it should.”
On the fundraising page, Bartell said that on top of attorney fees, he needed to try and find the money to get his wife out of custody.
Muñoz, a Peruvian citizen, entered the U.S. on a work-study visa in 2019 and got stuck in the country when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Shortly after, her visa expired but she kept working and her relationship with Bartell developed.
The pair got married and she was in the process of seeking legal permanent residence as a spouse of an American citizen when they travelled to Puerto Rico.
Bartell, on voting for Trump despite his immigration policies: “He didn’t create the system, but he does have an opportunity to improve it. Hopefully, all this attention will bring to light how broken it is.”
Source: Linda Ikeji Blog