The ongoing spree of brutal ICE sweeps stooped to a disturbing level recently when a woman was arrested by the federal agency while holding her newborn son. The incident occurred during her green card interview in San Diego, and she later termed the experience as nothing short of traumatic after having spent five days in custody.
Katie Paul, hailing from the U.K., was subjected to this treatment on Nov. 20. After getting arrested, she had to hand over her child to her husband, without having any clue of what would possibly happen to her next.
Katie moved to America after meeting her husband, Stephen Paul, on an online gaming portal. The two got married during the fall in the U.S. itself. Initially, the couple was planning to settle in the U.K., but when they found out she was expecting a child and it was a high-risk pregnancy, they chose to extend their stay in the U.S. and sought to discuss the possibility of obtaining a green card later with multiple immigration attorneys.
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Trump’s immigration ICE agents arrest British woman holding newborn son in California
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A British mother was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after it transpired she had overstayed her visa in California…https://t.co/iYHwFE2JO2
— Επικαιρότητα – V – News (@VNews825817) November 25, 2025
Explaining her side of the story, Katie told NBC7, “We decided that we wanted to be a family when he was born, and so we reached out to some immigration attorneys. “Every attorney that we spoke to said, you know, things like overstaying or unauthorized work are forgiven, and are a part of most marriage-based adjustment of statuses, and there would be no issues.”
As a result, Katie and Stephen attended her green card interview in San Diego along with their infant son. They were expecting a routine process, nothing out of the blue, given the previous advice they had received from other immigration attorneys. What was going on was a usual immigration interview, but ICE agents entered abruptly and issued an arrest warrant for Katie on the spot, leaving her family shocked. The family’s sole decision to remain in the U.S. was fueled by the need for medical support due to complications in her pregnancy.
ICE detain breastfeeding mother—rip 6 month old baby out of her arms.
Only reason she overstayed visa was her high risk pregnancy—doctors forbid travel due to health.
Agent told her: “I’m sorry. We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we’ve got direct orders.”
Green card… pic.twitter.com/ZOlIe7ZVKa
— LongTime🤓FirstTime👨💻 (@LongTimeHistory) November 25, 2025
It must be known that the ICE arrests began on November 12 in San Diego. The federal agency said this tactic was used to detain people who overstayed their visas. A statement from the ICE agency explained, “Being unlawfully present in the United States is itself a violation of federal law.” In Katie’s case, her lawyer told her it would be absolutely fine to join the interview by phone rather than in person, because her case was expected to be straightforward.
But things changed the minute the ICE agents entered the room. Katie mentioned, “We were finalizing, and we were just making small talk with the immigration officer. Then all of a sudden, there were two ICE agents in the room, and Munchkin was asleep in my arms because he’d just been fed, and he was tired. He was curled up in his blanket, and they said that they had an arrest warrant for me.”
Highlighting the helpless moment of her arrest while she was carrying her son, Katie further added, “We were saying, like, you know, ‘Is there any way for this not to happen? Because, you know, we’ve got the baby,’” she recalled. “The USCIS supervisor was in tears herself because she’s a mom, and she said there was nothing that she could do. And, you know, in the end, I had no choice.”
Since the federal agency was resolute about the arrest, Katie Paul was shocked that they could take such action without her committing any crime. After her arrest, she was taken to the basement of the USCIS building along with other detainees, from where they were transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Centre. Katie revealed she cried for five hours and was extremely nervous about being deported. In fact, she was even asked to sign a document that stated she would be deported within 48 hours.
Later, the couple had to go to court on November 25, after which Katie called her husband and was informed that her green card had finally been approved. She was finally released hours later at the San Ysidro trolley station.
