Wife was detained by ICE after background check showed a U.S. visa expired.
The wife of an active-duty Coast Guardsman was arrested earlier this week by federal immigration authorities inside the family residential section of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Key West, after she was flagged in a routine security check, officials said Saturday.
“The spouse is not a member of the Coast Guard and was detained by Homeland Security Investigations pursuant to a lawful removal order,” said Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Steve Roth in a statement confirming Thursday’s on-base arrest. “The Coast Guard works closely with HSI and others to enforce federal laws, including on immigration.”
According to a U.S. official, the woman’s work visa expired around 2017, and she was marked for removal from the United States a few years later. She and the Coast Guardsman were married early this year, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an enforcement incident.
Though the Trump administration has made immigration arrests a top priority for federal law enforcement, it did not immediately appear the on-base arrest of the military spouse was part of a broader sweep.
The official said that when the woman and her Coast Guard husband were preparing to move into their on-base housing on Wednesday, they went to the visitor control center to get a pass so she could access the Key West installation. During the routine security screening required for base access, the woman’s name was flagged as a problem.
Base personnel contacted the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which looked into the matter, said the official. NCIS and Coast Guard security personnel got permission from the base commander to enter the installation and then went to the Coast Guardsman’s home on Thursday, the official said. They were joined by personnel from Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
HSI eventually took the spouse into custody, and the official said they believe she is still being detained. Officials did not provide the name of the country she is from.
The Coast Guard referred questions about the woman’s identity, immigration status and charges to ICE, which did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security also did not respond to a request for comment.
The husband of the arrested woman is a Coast Guardsman assigned to the USCGC Mohawk, a 270-foot-long cutter based at Key West. The couple was moving into U.S. government housing at the nearby Naval Air Station.
An online database that tracks ship movements shows the Mohawk has been docked in its home port since mid-March. A March 16 media release says the ship had recently returned following a 70-day deployment to the Eastern Pacific Ocean on a mission to intercept shipments of illegal drugs.
In a statement, the Navy said that it “fully cooperated with federal law enforcement authorities on this matter. We take security and access at naval installations seriously.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
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10 comments
Foghorn Leghorn
April 27, 2025 at 12:22 pm
What is wrong with people? She has been here for eight years now on an overstay. Why didn’t they apply for her citizenship?
Michael K
April 27, 2025 at 12:45 pm
I’m sure the MAGA hatrs are salivating at the liklihood she will be sent to that notorious prison in El Salvador, never to be seen again. Right?
Foghorn Leghorn
April 27, 2025 at 1:49 pm
Why didn’t she take care of this? That’s my question. You fine with illegals roaming around? Why have borders then? Why have ID’s then? Sounds like a couple of Demo talking points.
Ron Ogden
April 27, 2025 at 2:07 pm
This is why we have security checks–to find people who have issues obeying American rules. Tell me, if you are searching for someone who might challenge the security of the US, are you going to look first for people who obey all the rules, or are you going to look for people who find obedience to rules to be problematic?
The AP’s chief goal is life is to make mountains out of molehills to damage the confidence people have in government–as long as it is Republican government. If it is Democratic government, they take exactly the opposite tack.
rbruce
April 27, 2025 at 2:43 pm
I remember sitting in classes starting in 1979 when I enlisted in the USCG about marriages of conveniences with non-citizens. I met a Central American unmarried woman with one child who ask me for tutoring through a CG outreach program. She was attractive and made me a very tasty dinner, but my hairs became erect first and I got out of their as soon as I could. This sailor must of missed the classes I took.
Michael K
April 27, 2025 at 4:10 pm
Funny how MAGA hats are all just fine with no due processs and “lock her up” for brown people being shipped off to the Gulag with no due process. But show a picture of white male US Coast Guard folk and suddenly there are excuses, forgiveness, slight compassion, and feigned concern.
Just an observation.
K Whitlestoo
April 27, 2025 at 4:23 pm
That makes no sense. They don’t list what country the woman is from. Why don’t assume she is brown skinned? You sound like a racist. Assuming all illegal aliens are brown skinned. I saw where a russsian was arrested the other day. They were in the country illegally and they had an interpol warrant. Skin color never entered into it. Americans are not prone to sympathy because the problem is massive and the effects are killing our kids and communities. It’s not that we don’t care about human suffering, it’s just that the problem is at the emergency level. And in any emergency, the authorities have to act quickly, decisively and methodically. It’s not going to be easy on everyone.
Foghorn Leghorn
April 27, 2025 at 4:48 pm
He is definitely triggered. Sonny Hostin is his idol.
Michael K
April 27, 2025 at 4:51 pm
That’s my point. Those MAGA hats are making assumptions based on a photo, not facts. You proved my point.
Foghorn Leghorn
April 27, 2025 at 5:57 pm
White, brown, green, yellow, blue, pink. Did I leave anyone out? If you are an illegal then sorry.