He Voted Trump. His Peruvian Wife Got Detained. Now He’s GoFundMe-ing for Help
The Trump administration’s focus on detaining and deporting people is escalating and Trump voters are feeling the pressure. A Peruvian woman is currently in detention after coming back from her honeymoon in Puerto Rico. Her husband, who voted for President Donald Trump, has been vocal about his continued support for the current administration. However, he is now asking for people to cover the legal costs associated with his wife’s arrest. The arrest comes shortly after President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law that allows for sweeping detention.
A Trump supporters wife has been detained by immigration officials after their honeymoon
Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz returned from their honeymoon in Puerto Rico when she was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Despite his full support of President Trump and the crackdown on immigrants, Bartell is standing by his president claiming to still support the administration. However, he does say that he is concerned for his wife.
“Emotionally, I’m concerned for her,” Bartell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It can’t be easy being trapped in a room with 100 other people. They don’t have anything in there. It’s just so wasteful.”
Bartell is now asking for people to donate to a GoFundMe he started to cover the legal bills of her detention. That’s right. The Trump supporting husband is asking for other people to help raise $3,000 to cover legal fees over the detention of his wife, which he voted for in 2024.
Bartell didn’t think the immigration crackdowns would affect him
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bartell never expected the immigration crackdowns to impact his life. President Trump promised sweeping immigration crackdowns during his campaign. Based on what he had promised, the arrest of Muñoz isn’t a total surprise.
“I knew they were cracking down,” Bartell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I guess I didn’t know how it was going down.”
According to reports, Muñoz came to the United States with a visa. Bartell and Muñoz assumed that since she came to the country with a visa that she would not be targeted. However, Muñoz overstayed her original visa, which is a deportable offense.
When Bartell and Muñoz got married, the two started the process of getting her green card. She was still in the process when the couple went to Puerto Rico and flew back confident that they would not face issues. According to Newsweek, Muñoz’s work-study visa expired during the Covid-19 pandemic and she was stuck in the U.S. She continued to work and her relationship with Bartell developed.
The fact that she overstayed her original visa, and had not secured a green card, marked her as deportable. Immigration officials arrested her when the couple got back to the mainland from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. The couple assumed that since she was vetted, and didn’t cross the border without authorization, that she would be treated differently.
“It’s all been a nightmare really, taking things as they come and moving forward,” Bartell told Newsweek. “We have an attorney. The system for getting people through seems to be very inefficient, so it is taking longer than it should.”
This story is still developing and we will update as we get more information.
