Editor’s Note: In the 2024 election, Donald Trump’s supporters at the Republican National Convention called on him to, if elected, enact mass deportations of anyone in the country who is not a U.S. citizen. He promised he would and has delivered. Although the popular narrative is that only “the worst of the worst” would be targeted, that was not what Trump promised, and they aren’t the only ones who have been targeted. This fall, Good Faith Media is highlighting stories of people caught in the line of ICE.
Dr. Badar Khan Suri
In March 2025, after attending an iftar dinner at Georgetown University, Dr. Badar Khan Suri was surrounded and detained by plainclothes, masked ICE agents. He was forced into an unmarked SUV and sent to a holding facility, despite immigration officials having no warrant for his arrest. He was told that someone in the State Department didn’t want him in the United States.
Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown and married to a U.S. citizen. His arrest was part of a wave of attempts by the Trump administration in the spring of 2025 to deport student visa holders who spoke out against U.S. foreign policy.
After being shuffled through several states, he ended up in the same Louisiana detention center that has drawn scrutiny for its conditions and lack of transparency. According to the ACLU, Suri was given dirty underwear, forced to sleep in a room with lights on and a loud television, and given a Christian Bible when he asked for a Quran to read.
Suri was detained for over six weeks before a federal judge ordered his release.
In July of this year, a federal court denied the administration’s further attempts to detain and deport Suri. The victory was seen as a win for those with student visas, although it is expected to be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Andry José Hernández Romero
In August 2024, during the Biden presidency, Andry José Hernández Romero applied for asylum from Venezuela due to persecution for being gay. He was immediately detained on suspicion of being part of a notorious gang due to his tattoos. However, he was released after meeting with an immigration judge, who told Romero he was confident the makeup artist would soon receive asylum.
In March 2025, Romero was deported by the Trump administration after showing up to a routine immigration hearing. According to the Congressional Equality Caucus, the administration cited Romero’s tattoos and the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as cause for deportation.
Rather than being sent back to Venezuela, however, Romero was sent to a prison in El Salvador that is notorious for abuse and violence, particularly against LGBTQ+ prisoners. He was returned to Venezuela in a prison exchange.
Shortly after returning home, then-Vice President Delcy Rodríguez offered him a job, which he declined, fearing the offer was a government ruse to keep its eyes on him. After the United States invaded Venezuela, arrested its president, Nicolás Maduro, and installed Rodríguez as president, Romero decided to seek asylum in Spain.
Romero is still affected by the trauma that was inflicted on him in the Salvadoran prison, yet he holds no ill will toward the people of the United States.
“I can’t judge an entire country based on the actions of a group of people like Donald Trump [or] Kristi Noem,” he told the Guardian. “But entering the US at this time doesn’t guarantee I will keep my freedom and that is why I will continue to fight my case from Spain.”
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez
According to his childhood best friend, Wilber Perez’s life was “tranquilo” and focused on “family, soccer, and work.” Perez entered the United States in 2024 to seek asylum from oppression, as well as to earn a better living to help support his special-needs son, who has cerebral palsy.
This September, he was shot by immigration officials in Austin as he was making a DoorDash run. He survived the shooting. However, he has claimed he was initially denied medical care, and one of the bullets remains lodged in his back.
As ICE agents approached him, Perez said he asked the officers if he could pull his vehicle to the side of the road. According to Perez, he was initially unaware ICE was pulling him over because they were in an unmarked SUV, which sideswiped his car. Once he asked to pull over and they refused, he said they struck his car again before shooting him.
According to Perez’s lawyer, ICE sent deportation orders to Perez’s previous home address, despite the fact that he had communicated a new address to immigration officials. He is currently being held in a South Texas detention center.
The shooting of Perez led to protests against ICE in Austin.
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Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.