USA07 August, 20262 min read
ICE Arrests Venezuelan Fiancée of Texas Trump Voter John Gannon in Houston
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
John Gannon, Texas Republican businessman, had fiancée Yasmin Suarez Reyes arrested by ICE in Houston. He pleads for her release as their marriage plans were derailed.
5 outlets told this the same way.
ICE arrest and fallout
A man from Texas who voted for President Donald Trump criticized the Trump administration after his Venezuelan fiancée was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Houston late last month.
John Gannon, a 75-year-old businessman and lifelong Republican, told CBS News that he now regretted his decision to vote for Trump in 2024, saying agents were "picking up law-abiding citizens. They're destroying families, jobs," after Yasmin Suarez Reyes, 45, was arrested at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The Department of Homeland Security said Suarez Reyes legally entered the United States on October 24, 2023, but overstayed her lawful admission, which expired on January 19, 2024, and that pending immigration applications "do not confer legal status."
CBS News reported that after going through security at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Gannon said his fiancée was arrested by agents in plainclothes and that "eight officers, ICE agents swarmed Yasmin and detained her."
Detention, due process claims
Suarez Reyes’ immigration attorney Anne Kennedy said her client was arrested despite entering the U.S. legally, having a pending immigration case, and lacking a "". In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Suarez Reyes was arrested by ICE on July 24, saying the administration "is not going to ignore the rule of law."
DHS added that "Pending applications do NOT confer legal status" and that "All of her claims will be heard by a Justice Department immigration judge, and she will receive full due process." CBS News reported that ICE’s online detainee tracking system indicated Suarez Reyes was being held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, and Kennedy said, "For almost two weeks now, she has been in a physical jail cell."
Record arrests and criticism
Dawn reported that ICE made approximately 51,000 arrests last month, the highest monthly total in the agency’s history, as the Trump administration intensified its nationwide immigration enforcement campaign. Dawn said the agency averaged about 1,645 arrests per day last month and that the monthly total surpassed the previous record of roughly 43,000 arrests in June, marking two consecutive months of record-breaking enforcement.
The same Dawn report said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the crackdown by saying, "By removing these criminals, we are making America safe again." Dawn also reported criticism that some people detained in recent operations had no criminal records and possessed valid work authorisation or parole documents, and it quoted Mike Howell, president of the Trump-aligned Oversight Project, saying the numbers remained below what he expected and calling for workplace enforcement to become a central part of the strategy.