Filmmaker Barbara Marques faces detention by ICE during a green card appointment in the United States (Photo: X | @Estadao)
She was detained this September by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during what she thought was just another routine green card appointment for Barbara Gomes Marques, a Brazilian film director and actress.
While husband Tucker May, a U.S. citizen said that the arrest was due to a missed court date in 2019, Marques said that she never received notice of such. The case has brought into public scrutiny the conflicting themes of immigration enforcement practices, representation in the law and the treatment of the non-criminal detainees.
According to Tucker May, she was separated from her lawyer under the guise of a broken copier, leading to immediate arrest. Marques now faces deportation even though she has never been convicted of any crimes after her initial detention at the Adelanto facility in California, she was then moved to a detention facility in Arizona and she might be sent to Louisiana.
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Her husband raised fears that moving her far away from legal representation and family would prevent her from making a solid defense. For seven years, she has lived in the States on a tourist visa, under the name Barbara Marques and has a professional career in film and documentary production.
Marques's case hit a nerve in public a GoFundMe page raised more than $31,000 organized by Tucker May for legal expenses associated with her case and counsel supporters to contact elected officials. Update notes from May include that Marques has been denied even the basic forms of medical care for a chronic back condition and basic pain relief such as ibuprofen while detainees have sometimes gone for 12 hours without food before breakfast.
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Her attorney has applied for a temporary restraining order for her deportation before the legal proceedings commence. “People pour out warmth and kindness in every encounter,” say supporters, “humanizing the impact of those policies on immigration enforcement."
It sparked a new wave of debates on the U.S. immigration enforcement imperatives, particularly on minor criminal offenders and non-offenders. In the assertion of a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, green cards are privileges and not rights and prior legal incidents might trigger more scrutiny.
The urgent need for public engagement is pushed to a higher level by Tucker May, stating "If we allow these types of things to happen to our most vulnerable people, it's only a matter of time before it could happen to any of us." Marque's situation can be emblematic of the greater problems faced by immigrants at the intersection of legal technicalities with enforcement policies in the U.S.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Verify details of Barbara Marques’ detention and U.S. immigration policies from official sources.
