A Missouri veteran says he “100 percent” regrets voting for President Donald Trump after his British-born wife, a longtime green card holder, was detained by federal agents and now faces deportation.
Donna Hughes-Brown, 59, was stopped by officers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on July 29 after returning from a holiday in Ireland. She spent five days in custody in Chicago before being transferred to a detention facility in Campbell County, Kentucky, where she remains while removal proceedings play out.
Donna Hughes-Brown, a legal permanent resident originally from England, has been a U.S. resident since 1977, but a misdemeanor from ten years ago was enough to get her detained.https://t.co/w2FVdM5puv
— H. Walter Muchow (@hwm777) September 1, 2025
Hughes-Brown’s husband, James Brown, said he believed he was voting to remove “criminal illegal immigrants,” not trap law-abiding residents with decades in the country. He now blames Trump’s crackdown for ensnaring his wife over what he described as a minor misdemeanor from 2015 that was resolved years ago. The couple’s case has ricocheted across social media as an example of how aggressive enforcement is sweeping up legal permanent residents for old or low-level infractions.
The Department of Homeland Security, without commenting on the specifics of Hughes-Brown’s record, confirmed the broader policy: lawful permanent residents who present at a U.S. port of entry with certain criminal convictions can be found inadmissible, placed into removal proceedings, and held under mandatory detention. That stance aligns with federal immigration law, which permits detention of noncitizens pending proceedings and requires detention for specified criminal grounds. Recent changes have widened who gets held without bond.
ICE detains green card holder—days after she passed citizenship exam.
She was awaiting the official ceremony—when agents tricked her into coming in for appointment—only to arrest her.
Sharareh Moghadam entered U.S. legally with all documents in order—but recent trip to Iran may… pic.twitter.com/9u8OLtMtDZ
— LongTime🤓FirstTime👨💻 (@LongTimeHistory) September 1, 2025
Family and friends say the 59-year-old, who immigrated to the United States as a child in 1977 and has renewed her green card multiple times, has deep roots: four children, five grandchildren, and a reputation for community service. After catastrophic storms slammed the Southeast last fall, the couple helped coordinate relief donations, hauling supplies on repeated trips to North Carolina as communities dug out from Hurricane Helene’s devastation.
Brown says the legal limbo has already dragged on for weeks. A bond hearing initially scheduled for mid-August was delayed due to a clerical error, then held, and ultimately followed by a second appearance where, he says, bond was denied after a government attorney argued that new legislation barred release. While immigration judges can grant bond in many cases, mandatory-detention provisions limit that discretion when certain criminal grounds are triggered, an area of the law that’s notoriously complex and, in 2025, more punitive than in years past.
She was expecting her citizenship ceremony, but ICE arrested her instead. Sharareh Moghadam, an Iranian woman, green card holder and U.S. resident of 20 years who had just passed her citizenship exam, was called in for an ICE check-in and arrested without explanation. She is… pic.twitter.com/RVw9PTCXku
— NIAC (@NIACouncil) September 2, 2025
Friends have launched a GoFundMe to cover mounting legal bills, recounting the O’Hare stop, the Kentucky transfer, and the couple’s volunteer work. Brown, a former U.S. Navy serviceman who served from the mid-1980s through the 2000s, says the situation has shattered his faith that “good standing” and “doing everything right” would protect his family. “They’re trying to deport her, and if they do, she’s gone for ten years,” he warned, referencing the common 10-year bar that can follow certain removal orders.
Immigration hard-liners argue that a green card is a privilege, not a right, and that rule-of-law demands consistent consequences for offenses, even old ones. But to Brown, that misses the point. “This isn’t what we were told,” he said, insisting that current policies are punishing the very neighbors who stock food pantries and show up after disasters. As the case moves forward, Hughes-Brown remains in detention with no hearing date announced, her future reduced to a paper trail, a courtroom calendar, and a family’s fast-growing legal tab.
