Trump Voter Pleads for Fiancée's Release After ICE Arrest

A Texas businessman who voted for President Trump says he deeply regrets that decision after his fiancée, an immigrant from Venezuela, was arrested by federal immigration agents at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport last month.

John Gannon, 75, a lifelong Republican, told CBS News in an interview Wednesday that his plans to marry 45-year-old Yasmin Suarez Reyes were derailed by her July 24 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"I voted for Trump," Gannon said, before criticizing the agency. "They are picking up law-abiding citizens. They're destroying families, jobs."

Asked what he would say to the president, Gannon said he would ask, "What are you doing?" He added: "Go after the criminals. We're all for that. But leave the mom and pops and the kids alone."

Gannon, who owns more than 1,000 billboards in the United States as well as a hotel and a restaurant in Mexico, said the couple were flying to Las Vegas for a furniture industry convention. After they cleared security, he said, plainclothes agents moved in. "After leaving the United room, eight officers, ICE agents swarmed Yasmin and detained her," he said. "(They) didn't tell us why and wrestled her off into a car."

Government records reviewed by CBS News show Suarez Reyes entered the country legally in October 2023 under the Visa Waiver Program. Born in Venezuela, she holds Spanish citizenship. Such stays generally last 90 days, but she applied for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in January 2024, before that window closed, and the case remains pending. Her attorney, Anne Kennedy — also a lifelong Republican — said Suarez Reyes obtained a work permit and a Texas driver's license.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest, saying the administration "is not going to ignore the rule of law" and that she "illegally overstayed her lawful admission which expired on January 19, 2024." It added that "pending applications do NOT confer legal status" and that her claims will be heard by a Justice Department immigration judge.

ICE's detainee tracking system showed her held this week at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. Kennedy said her client has been "in a physical jail cell" for nearly two weeks.

Suarez Reyes is among many immigrants arrested at U.S. airports in recent weeks, part of a push that helped drive ICE arrests to a record monthly high last month.