A Brazilian filmmaker’s bid for legal residency in the U.S. turned into a nightmare after she says ICE agents lured her away from her husband and attorney at the end of a green card interview, then locked her up. Barbara Gomes Marques, 38, was detained in early September at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles and has since been transferred out of state, her husband says, putting her thousands of miles from home and potentially on the fast track to deportation.
Her American husband, Pasadena native Tucker May, says the interview initially seemed routine. A staffer told them their paperwork looked good. Then, as they walked back toward the waiting area, someone said they needed a passport copy and asked Barbara to follow them down a hallway because the nearby copier was “broken.” May and the couple’s lawyer stayed behind. Minutes later, he says, ICE agents had his wife in custody. “Going home without her that night was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” he told local TV.
Officials cited a missed immigration court date in 2019 as the reason for the arrest—a notice the couple insists Barbara never received. She has no criminal record and had come to the U.S. seven years earlier on a tourist visa, the family says. After a short stint at Adelanto in California, she was moved through Arizona and is now being held in Louisiana, a transfer her husband fears could be the last stop before removal from the country.
Fox 11 Los Angeles reported similar details from May, who alleges agents used deception to separate Barbara from both him and their attorney in order to pressure her into signing documents to “expedite” deportation papers, she refused. The outlet also noted the couple’s claim that Barbara was targeted at the very appointment meant to advance her case, a tactic immigrant advocates call a chilling message to families trying to “do it the right way.”
KCAL/CBS Los Angeles likewise documented May’s account of the hallway ruse and the arrest, including his recollection of being handed his wife’s shoes in a plastic bag as he left the building alone. The station’s report says Barbara was later moved to a detention site far from California, complicating their ability to retain counsel and file emergency papers in time.
The story has since ricocheted online. Barbara was detained over the 2019 no-show and reported that her husband first went public over the weekend, as supporters amplified calls to stall deportation. A GoFundMe to cover legal fees, organized by friends and naming May as beneficiary, has raised tens of thousands of dollars as of this week, underscoring the speed with which families must mobilize once ICE transfers begin.
Fox 11 also reported that Barbara, born in Brazil and working as a director and actress, has been shuttled between facilities during the past two weeks. May alleges agents mocked her as they cuffed her, and that she was shackled at the wrists, waist, and ankles like a “hardened criminal.” ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment in local coverage.
Transfers to distant detention centers are a longstanding complaint among immigration attorneys, who say the practice wedges families into an impossible corner—splitting spouses, stranding cases far from home, and ratcheting up costs just as the legal clock starts ticking. Barbara’s supporters are now racing to retain Louisiana counsel to deliver filings in person, while urging elected officials to intervene. The couple’s message is simple: the system shouldn’t punish people for showing up. “Most of the people being caught up are not dangerous criminals,” May told a local reporter. “They’re people voluntarily trying to do things the right way.”
