This article is part of “In broad daylight,” an MS NOW series exploring the stories of people whose lives have been endangered, upended or cut short by Trump’s brutal immigration agenda.
Douglas Sura Cruz came from El Salvador to Illinois more than 11 years ago. He fell in love with an American, they got married, and together they have two young children who are also U.S. citizens. His wife petitioned U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for Cruz to receive lawful permanent residence.
In December 2025, Cruz showed up at the immigration benefits office for an interview for the petition, hoping to advance in the legal immigration process. Everything seemed in order. But after his interview, USCIS didn’t adjudicate his petition. Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents approached him and arrested him.
Douglas has no criminal record. Still, ICE detained him.
Cruz is the victim of a new and terrifyingly common Trump administration practice of arresting the spouses, parents and other family members of U.S. citizens as they go through the standard green card process. USCIS has increasingly collaborated with ICE since last year, reporting applicants who have records of past immigration infractions, even in cases when they might be eligible for legal status.
Cruz was taken to the notorious Broadview ICE facility, which had been sued months prior to his arrival there by the American Civil Liberties Union for “overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, lack of medical care, and deprivation of adequate food.” The lawsuit details that a single bathroom is shared among detainees in the overcrowded cells with “poor sanitation, clogged toilets, and blood, human fluids, and insects in the sinks and the floor.” Although the district court eventually ordered some conditions to be improved, the ACLU accused the government of withholding evidence showing whether it had complied with the order.
Outside the detention center walls, Cruz’s wife and children stared down financial destitution, deprived of their primary financial support. Normally, under any other administration, including the first Trump administration, ICE and Border Patrol detainees can seek bond if they aren’t dangerous and they have sufficient ties to the community and are not deemed a flight risk. But Cruz had run into a second devastating and unprecedented policy shift from last year: the administration’s refusal to grant bond hearings to people who entered without inspection.
Cruz’s wife and children stared down financial destitution, deprived of their primary financial support.
Even serious criminal suspects get a bond hearing before trial. This policy meant that Cruz could face months behind bars before the outcome of his case. He filed a habeas corpus petition with a district court to force the administration to give him a bond hearing. His attorney wrote that his detention imposes a “substantial deprivation and burden that puts [him] and his family at risk without his support.”
Thanks to this anti-bond policy, almost 10,000 people each month are filing habeas petitions just like Douglas Cruz in attempts to free themselves from deplorable conditions in ICE custody. ∂
Fortunately, Cruz’s counsel was able to convince the judge that the no-bond policy was illegal and unconstitutional, and the judge ordered ICE to grant him a bond hearing. After almost two weeks of detention, ICE relented and gave him a bond hearing. Based on typical spending per detainee, his stay in detention likely cost the government more than $2,500, for less than two weeks.
Cruz was fortunate to receive some form of legal justice. But he was one of the lucky ones. These situations are growing increasingly common as USCIS sits on legal immigrants’ applications, not processing them and instead waiting for the chance to arrest them. Many immigrants are actually losing their legal status during these lengthy waits as their temporary status expires and they are unable to renew. As of July 2026 there were nearly 1.6 million pending green card applications, and wait times for some categories have grown to multiple years.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow has emphasized his agency’s “great relationship with ICE.” As a result, USCIS has worked with ICE to arrest spouses of American military personnel, refugees resettled by the U.S. government, and crime victims applying for a visa for immigrants who help law enforcement investigations. Congress has created the U visa for the purpose of allowing some immigrants with temporary or no status to receive status in exchange for cooperation with the police, but ICE often arrests them before USCIS reviews their applications.
The baseless arrest-and-detain strategy is working. Immigrants are increasingly giving up. A growing number of applicants are not showing up for routine immigration hearings and appointments, reportedly out of fear of being detained. In August 2026, less than 60% of ICE removals had a final order of removal — down from 85% at the start of fiscal year 2025. The rest were people abandoning their right to press their case in immigration court. With that kind of “success,” you can bet ICE will be looking for many more people just like Cruz — no matter their immigration application status, lack of criminal record or proven ties to their American community.
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