‘I still support our president’: Donald Trump supporter after ICE detains his Peruvian wife
ByTrisha Sengupta
Mar 21, 2025 10:19 AM IST
Reportedly, the husband, before his wife was detained, thought ICE would only detain those with criminal records or the ones who have entered the US illegally.
A Wisconsin Donald Trump supporter whose wife was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says that though he is worried about his wife, he sticks by his decision to vote for the Republican leader and supports his mass deportation decisions. According to the New York Post, the husband has received backlash after his story was made public. Since then, he has created a GoFundMe for his wife to collect money for “legal and bond support.”
Bradley Bartell with his wife Sylvia Camilla Muñoz-Lira, who was detained by ICE. (GoFundMe, AFP)
Bradley Bartell with his wife Sylvia Camilla Muñoz-Lira, who was detained by ICE. (GoFundMe, AFP)
“My wife was detained at the end of our belated honeymoon while we were returning through the airport. This money will be used for legal support and the bond money for my wife. Any and all support is deeply appreciated,” Bradley Bartell wrote on his GoFundMe page, adding that his Peruvian wife, Sylvia Camilla Muñoz-Lira’s bond could run up to $10,000.
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Why was Sylvia Camilla Muñoz-Lira detained?
According to the New York Post, Muñoz-Lira came to the US with her temporary visa in 2019 after being accepted to a work-study program in Wisconsin. During the pandemic, she could not return to Peru, and after that, she continued working in America. In 2024, she married Bartell.
She was arrested by ICE agents on February 15 at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan and locked in a detention centre. She was detained while returning from her honeymoon in Puerto Rico. Muñoz-Lira overstayed her J-1 visa and she is now locked up at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana.
“Shocked, slap in the face”
While talking to the outlet, Bartell said, “I was in shock and unsure what to do at the time. It was terrible.” He added, “It was kind of like a slap in the face.” He revealed that one week after her detention, he got to know where she was being kept.
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“She’s worried because there’s a lot of uncertainty in how this is all going down,” he continued, adding that they speak on the phone for 15 minutes daily. However, he expressed his concerns over his wife’s mental and physical well-being.
“She’s calmed down a little now that we have an attorney giving us an idea of how the process is going to go. But we still haven’t gotten a court date,” he added.
Bradley Bartell on supporting Trump:
Bartell confessed that the situation was “tough” but made it clear that he still supported Donald Trump. “I still support our president,” he said.
“It’s kind of a tough slope. I just feel they need to get stuff moving on this because they’re holding a lot of people and it’s costing the taxpayers money. It’s taking a long time to even get dates set for people to speak with judges,” he added.
He said that he initially thought that the Trump administration would only detain those immigrants who have criminal history or have illegally crossed the border.
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