Latest news with #FranciscoOlivera
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
‘Blindsided, betrayed': Canadian woman with Trump-supporting American husband detained by immigration officials in U.S.
Cynthia Olivera is seen in this undated image. (Source: Francisco Olvera via ABC 10 News San Diego) A Canadian woman whose American husband backed Donald Trump and his mass deportation policy was arrested by immigration authorities in the United States, a San Diego news outlet reported. Cynthia Olivera, a 45-year-old mother of three, told ABC 10News' Team 10 in a report published July 3 that she was handcuffed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at an immigration office in Chatsworth, Calif., last month while her husband waited outside. She said she was trying to finalize her green card application. 'The only crime I committed is to love this country and to work hard and to provide for my kids,' she said in a video interview with Team 10 from a Texas immigration detention centre. She said she had previously received an expedited removal order in 1999 for living in the U.S. illegally but was still allowed to re-enter the country from Mexico not long after. Cynthia said she worked in Los Angeles and paid taxes for about 25 years, even receiving a work permit last year when Joe Biden was president, until she was detained in June. Her American husband Francisco Olivera said he and Cynthia supported Trump's mass deportation program for criminals. But her husband, who voted for Trump, said he now regrets it. 'We feel totally blindsided, betrayed,' he told the news outlet. In the wake of her detention, Team 10 said it found no criminal charges under her name in California and federal court databases. Team 10 said ICE didn't respond to its requests for comment and for more information about Cynthia's case. Cynthia said she plans to live with her cousin in Mississauga, Ont., and wants the Canadian government to help her get on a flight to Toronto. According to Team 10, Global Affairs Canada said in a statement that it can't intervene in her case. With files from ABC 10News San Diego Team 10 Investigative Reporter Austin Grabish
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Canadian mother reportedly detained in the U.S. as Trump-voting husband feels 'totally blindsided'
A Canadian woman has been detained in the U.S. during her green card interview for being in the U.S. illegally, California-based KGTV reported Thursday. Cynthia Olivera's green card interview was on June 13 in California. As she went into the interview room, her husband, Francisco Olivera waited outside. 'We feel totally blindsided. I want my vote back,' Francisco told KGTV after Cynthia was detained. Francisco is a U.S. citizen and self-identified Trump voter. The U.S. president's promises to deport dangerous criminals appealed to the couple but they didn't think Cynthia's lack of legal U.S. status would be a problem — no criminal charges were found under Cynthia's name by KGTV. 'The U.S. is my country,' Cynthia told KGTV from an immigration detention centre in El Paso, Texas. 'That's where I met my husband. That's where I went to high school, junior high, elementary. That's where I had my kids,' she continued. The 45-year-old was born in Canada and taken to the U.S. by her parents when she was 10 years old. In 1999, when Cynthia was 19 years old, U.S. border officials determined she was living in the country without a legal status and an order was obtained to deport her. After being removed, Cynthia returned within a few months to the U.S. by driving to San Diego from Mexico, The Guardian reports. 'They didn't ask me for my citizenship – they didn't do nothing. They just waved me in,' Cynthia told KGTV. For the next 25 years, Cynthia is reported to have worked in Los Angeles where she paid her taxes and provided for her family. She has three children who were born in the U.S. As she navigated the onerous task of obtaining a green card, she was granted a permit by the Biden administration in 2024 that allowed her to work legally in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Trump administration in an emailed statement referred to Cynthia as an 'illegal alien from Canada,' The Guardian reports. In a statement to Newsweek, the spokesperson said Cynthia was 'previously deported and chose to ignore our law and again illegally entered the country.' The statement further noted that 're-entering the U.S. without permission after being deported is a felony, and it said Olivera would remain in Ice's custody pending removal to Canada,' Newsweek reports. Cynthia reportedly told officials that the couple can pay for her to fly to Canada, where she would live with a cousin in Mississauga, Ontario. 'Despite offering to pay for her own flight back to Canada and waive her rights to a bond hearing, she remains locked up at an ICE detention facility in El Paso, Texas,' reads a petition on The Canadian government told KGTV that it is aware of Cynthia's case but cannot intervene because 'every country or territory decides who can enter or exit through its borders,' Guardian reports. U.K. singer arrested in U.S. after being denied entry into Canada. She overstayed her visa by 26 years Canadian man detained by ICE dies in custody in Miami Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Canadian mother reportedly detained in the U.S. as Trump-voting husband feels 'totally blindsided'
A Canadian woman has been detained in the U.S. during her green card interview for being in the U.S. illegally, California-based KGTV reported Thursday. Cynthia Olivera's green card interview was on June 13 in California. As she went into the interview room, her husband, Francisco Olivera waited outside. 'We feel totally blindsided. I want my vote back,' Francisco told KGTV after Cynthia was detained. Francisco is a U.S. citizen and self-identified Trump voter. The U.S. president's promises to deport dangerous criminals appealed to the couple but they didn't think Cynthia's lack of legal U.S. status would be a problem — no criminal charges were found under Cynthia's name by KGTV. 'The U.S. is my country,' Cynthia told KGTV from an immigration detention centre in El Paso, Texas. 'That's where I met my husband. That's where I went to high school, junior high, elementary. That's where I had my kids,' she continued. The 45-year-old was born in Canada and taken to the U.S. by her parents when she was 10 years old. In 1999, when Cynthia was 19 years old, U.S. border officials determined she was living in the country without a legal status and an order was obtained to deport her. After being removed, Cynthia returned within a few months to the U.S. by driving to San Diego from Mexico, The Guardian reports. 'They didn't ask me for my citizenship – they didn't do nothing. They just waved me in,' Cynthia told KGTV. For the next 25 years, Cynthia is reported to have worked in Los Angeles where she paid her taxes and provided for her family. She has three children who were born in the U.S. As she navigated the onerous task of obtaining a green card, she was granted a permit by the Biden administration in 2024 that allowed her to work legally in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Trump administration in an emailed statement referred to Cynthia as an 'illegal alien from Canada,' The Guardian reports. In a statement to Newsweek, the spokesperson said Cynthia was 'previously deported and chose to ignore our law and again illegally entered the country.' The statement further noted that 're-entering the U.S. without permission after being deported is a felony, and it said Olivera would remain in Ice's custody pending removal to Canada,' Newsweek reports. Cynthia reportedly told officials that the couple can pay for her to fly to Canada, where she would live with a cousin in Mississauga, Ontario. 'Despite offering to pay for her own flight back to Canada and waive her rights to a bond hearing, she remains locked up at an ICE detention facility in El Paso, Texas,' reads a petition on The Canadian government told KGTV that it is aware of Cynthia's case but cannot intervene because 'every country or territory decides who can enter or exit through its borders,' Guardian reports. U.K. singer arrested in U.S. after being denied entry into Canada. She overstayed her visa by 26 years Canadian man detained by ICE dies in custody in Miami Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
National Post
a day ago
- Politics
- National Post
Canadian mother reportedly detained in the U.S. as Trump-voting husband feels 'totally blindsided'
Article content A Canadian woman has been detained in the U.S. during her green card interview for being in the U.S. illegally, California-based KGTV reported Thursday. Article content Cynthia Olivera's green card interview was on June 13 in California. As she went into the interview room, her husband, Francisco Olivera waited outside. 'We feel totally blindsided. I want my vote back,' Francisco told KGTV after Cynthia was detained. Article content Article content Article content Trump voter feels " after wife arrested by ICE at green card interview: 'I voted for change. But I didn't vote for THIS change.' Last year, Canadian Cynthia Olivera, 45, who'd been in the U.S. since age 10, got a work permit under the Biden administration.… — Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 5, 2025 Article content Article content Francisco is a U.S. citizen and self-identified Trump voter. The U.S. president's promises to deport dangerous criminals appealed to the couple but they didn't think Cynthia's lack of legal U.S. status would be a problem — no criminal charges were found under Cynthia's name by KGTV. 'The U.S. is my country,' Cynthia told KGTV from an immigration detention centre in El Paso, Texas. 'That's where I met my husband. That's where I went to high school, junior high, elementary. That's where I had my kids,' she continued. Article content Article content The 45-year-old was born in Canada and taken to the U.S. by her parents when she was 10 years old. In 1999, when Cynthia was 19 years old, U.S. border officials determined she was living in the country without a legal status and an order was obtained to deport her. Article content After being removed, Cynthia returned within a few months to the U.S. by driving to San Diego from Mexico, The Guardian reports. 'They didn't ask me for my citizenship – they didn't do nothing. They just waved me in,' Cynthia told KGTV.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘I want my vote back': Trump-voting family stunned after Canadian mother detained over immigration status
The family of a Canadian national who supported Donald Trump's plans for mass deportations of immigrants say they are feeling betrayed after federal agents recently detained the woman in California while she interviewed for permanent US residency – and began working to expel her from the country. 'We feel totally blindsided,' Cynthia Olivera's husband – US citizen and self-identified Trump voter Francisco Olivera – told the California news station KGTV. 'I want my vote back.' Cynthia Olivera, a 45-year-old mother of three US-born children, thus joined a growing list of examples contradicting the Trump administration's claims that the immigration crackdown it has spearheaded since the president's return to the Oval Office in January has prioritized targeting dangerous criminals. Being in the US without legal status is generally a civil infraction rather than a criminal violation. Nonetheless, despite its claim that the immigration crackdown is mainly meant to rid the US of violent criminals, the White House has maintained that anyone in the US who lacks legal status is a criminal subject to deportation. Olivera was unwittingly thrust under the weight of those policies after Trump spent his successful 2024 presidential campaign promising to pursue them, earning her husband's vote along the way, according to what he told KGTV. She was just 10 when her parents brought her to the US from Toronto without permission, she said to the station. By 1999, when she was about 19, US immigration officials at the Buffalo border crossing had determined Olivera was living in the country without legal status and obtained an expedited order to deport her. But, after being removed, she was able to return to the US by driving to San Diego from Mexico within a few months. 'They didn't ask me for my citizenship – they didn't do nothing,' Olivera would later say to KGTV. 'They just waved me in.' She recounted spending the next 25 years working in Los Angeles, paying taxes and providing for her family. KGTV reported that its investigative team scoured California and federal court databases, but the unit found no criminal charges under Cynthia Oliver's name. In 2024, toward the end of his presidency, Joe Biden's administration granted her a permit allowing her to work legally in the US. She had also been navigating the process to obtain legal permanent US residency – colloquially referred to as a green card – for years. Nonetheless, instead of supporting the candidate Biden endorsed to succeed him, then vice-president Kamala Harris, Olivera's husband supported Trump in November's White House election. He told KGTV that Trump's promises to deport criminals en masse appealed to both him and Cynthia. And, echoing other mixed immigration status families who have had members affected by Trump's policies, the Oliveras did not believe she would be hurt by her lack of legal US residency. They learned she would in fact be affected by her immigration status when she went for a green card interview in Chatsworth, California, on 13 June. She was detained there by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents, according to a petition pleading for compassion on behalf of Cynthia. Olivera has since been transferred to an Ice detention center in El Paso, Texas, to await being deported. Speaking to KGTV over a video call from the El Paso facility, Olivera suggested her treatment was undeserved. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'The US is my country,' Olivera remarked to the station in an interview published on 3 July. 'That's where I met my husband. That's where I went to high school, junior high, elementary [school]. That's where I had my kids.' But the Trump administration had little sympathy for Olivera, despite her husband's support of the president, with a spokesperson saying in a statement that Cynthia was 'an illegal alien from Canada'. Olivera had been 'previously deported and chose to ignore our law and again illegally entered the country', said the spokesperson's statement, as reported by Newsweek. The statement noted that re-entering the US without permission after being deported is a felony, and it said Olivera would remain in Ice's custody 'pending removal to Canada'. Canada's government commented to KGTV that it was aware of Olivera's detention but could not intervene on her behalf because 'every country or territory decides who can enter or exit through its borders'. Francisco Olivera, for his part, summed up his and his wife's disillusion by saying: 'My wife … up until [a couple of weeks] ago, was a strong believer in what was going to happen the next four years.' Cynthia Olivera, meanwhile, said she has told officials she and her husband are willing to pay for her to fly to Canada, where she plans to stay in Mississauga with a cousin. Yet there had been no immediate indication when she may be able to travel to Canada. As she fought back tears, Olivera said to KGTV: 'The only crime I committed is to love this country and to work hard and to provide for my kids.'
