Father Awaiting Green Card Approval Detained by ICE for Weeks, Wife Says

Newsweek

3 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Valdiney Goncalves, a Brazilian father married to a U.S. citizen, was in the final stages of securing a green card when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained him on his way to work last month, his wife told CBS News.
Newsweek has reached out to ICE for comment via email and contacted his wife through a GoFundMe page on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
Goncalves' detention, which Newsweek confirmed in the ICE detainee database, comes amid an immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, during which people with valid documentation—including green cards or visas—have been detained and face legal jeopardy, as well as those who are not in the country legally.
President Donald Trump has pledged the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history and in the initial months of his second term his administration has deported more than 100,000 illegal immigrants, many as a result of his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which grants the president authority to deport noncitizens without appearing before a judge, among other wartime authorities.
People protesting ICE raids in Los Angeles took to the streets over the weekend, with some demonstrations having devolved into violent confrontations with law enforcement. Trump authorized thousands of National Guards to the Californian city, and 700 Marines arrived on Tuesday intensifying tensions between the federal and state government.
What To Know
Gonclaves' wife, Ivelina Ferreira, says her husband was on his way to work last month when he was suddenly stopped and arrested by immigration agents. He has moved to several detention sites, having been arrested in Massachusetts and the ICE detainee locator placing him at FCI Berlin facility in New Hampshire. FCI Berlin is a medium security federal male correctional facility with "an adjacent minimum security satellite camp."
Newsweek has reached out to FCI Berlin for comment via email on Wednesday.
Federal agents move in to reopen the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Portland, Oregon, on June 28, 2018.
Federal agents move in to reopen the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Portland, Oregon, on June 28, 2018.
Photo by Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA/AP Photos
Ferreira said in a GoFundMe for help to cover legal fees that her husband, the father of their six-year-old and stepfather to her 12-year-old child, had completed key steps in the immigration process, including an approved marriage petition in 2021.
"We've done everything required—filing papers, paying fees, fingerprints, background checks and paying taxes every year. We were filled with hope and were just waiting for the final decision from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."
She said he was waiting for the final approval for his green card after five years going through the process.
Newsweek has reached out to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for comment via email on Wednesday.
Green card holders are legal permanent residents of the United States. They have faced increasing uncertainty under the Trump administration and his crackdown on immigration, with reports of some being detained at airports or during immigration checks and others facing possible deportation.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says that green card holders are allowed to live permanently in the U.S. as long as they avoid actions that "would make you removable under immigration law." This includes committing crimes or failing to file taxes. Ferreira says that her husband has no criminal record.
The couple live in Milford, Massachusetts, the same town where an 18-year-old high school student, Marcelo Gomes-DaSilva, was detained one day before his graduation ceremony in June.
In an online fundraiser for the family, Ferreira wrote about her husband: "He was not just our financial support, but the heart of our home. He worked tirelessly to give our children a safe, stable life, full of love and hope. Now, his absence is devastating for us. My kids cry themselves to sleep, asking when he is coming home."
As of Wednesday morning, Ferreira has raised over $3,300.
What People Are Saying
Ivelina Ferreira told CBS: "My kids who go to school they hear it every day, especially my older one in middle school. He says the atmosphere is really tense in school, it's like always talk in the background about whose parents were taken."
Senator Ed Markey said in a video posted on social media about Marcelo Gomes-DaSilva's detention: "To the Milford community, I am with you as we tell the Trump administration to keep its hands off your kids, and I am with you in calling on ICE to free Marcelo."
President Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social on Monday: "We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated."
California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a press release on Monday: "Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion. The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends. Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the President's authority under the law—and not one we take lightly. We're asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order."
What Happens Next
It remains unclear when Goncalves will have a hearing or whether he will be transferred again.