A Florida man who supports President Donald Trump told Newsweek he does not regret his vote after his wife was detained by federal immigration agents at an airport while her green card application was pending. Mounque "Monk" Barazone said his wife, Colombian national Gloria Barazone, 46, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Newark Liberty International Airport while traveling from New Jersey to Miami in July, adding to a string of similar cases in recent months where spouses of U.S. citizens with pending immigration applications have been detained by federal agents. Absolutely not," Barazone, 77, said when asked whether he regretted voting for Trump in 2024.
"Our country would be in worse shape with continuing the Biden administration." Barazone said his wife entered the United States on a tourist visa and later applied for permanent residency through their marriage 15 years ago. He said the couple had spent nearly three years navigating the immigration system, filing required paperwork, securing visa extensions and attending a green card interview earlier this year. According to Barazone, his wife had a pending green card application, a pending work authorization application, and a pending Social Security number application at the time of her detention.
He said she had also been issued a Florida Real ID driver's license while awaiting a decision on her immigration case. "I don't believe you arrest American citizens' spouses and then tell them to spend tens of thousands of dollars they don't have," Barazone told Newsweek. "I agree with 80 percent of what Trump is doing, and I don't agree with part of it.
And you don't arrest American citizens' wives." Barazone said he spoke with an ICE officer after his wife's detention and attempted to explain that she was the spouse of a U.S. citizen with an active immigration case. He said those circumstances did not alter the decision to take her into custody. His wife was initially held in New Jersey before being transferred to Louisiana and later the South Texas ICE Processing Center, where she remained at the time of publication.
Barazone alleges the transfers disrupted legal efforts underway in each location and forced attorneys to repeatedly refile court documents and other filings as they attempted to challenge her detention. Barazone said attorneys quickly began pursuing a variety of legal remedies, including requests related to her transfer and detention status. He alleges that moving his wife between facilities complicated those efforts and increased the family's legal expenses.
A spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek that ICE arrested Gloria Barazone during "a targeted immigration enforcement operation" on July 30. The agency said she legally entered the country on January 18, 2025, with permission to stay until July 17, 2025. "In violation of our nation's laws, she overstayed her welcome," the DHS spokesperson said.
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