A British woman says she now suffers nightmares about being taken by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after she was detained in November 2025.
Katie Paul, 34, travelled to the United States in September 2024 to join her partner, Stephen Paul, 32, who is from San Diego. The pair married the next month, and not long afterwards Katie learned she was expecting their first baby.
She initially intended to return to the UK while her green card application moved through the system. However, after being told her pregnancy was high-risk, she chose to stay in the US. Katie says a lawyer advised her that remaining past her visitor visa while pursuing the green card process would not cause problems.
But in November 2025, while attending an appointment at the San Diego US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office for her green card interview, Katie was arrested.
She says she was nearing the end of the approval process when ICE agents entered and detained her as she held her six-month-old son, Alan.
After the arrest, Katie spent five days at Otay Mesa ICE Detention Centre. She was released once her green card was approved.
Katie, a stay-at-home mother from Suffolk, England, said: “There were ICE agents near my house a couple of weeks ago, I got into such a panic because I was so distressed they were going to arrest me.
“I have nightmares every single night.
“Each night, I will see those agents rip him from my arms while they cuff me. It is a constant reminder.”
Reflecting on the period when she first became pregnant while her immigration paperwork was still unresolved, Katie said: “A week before I was due back to England, I found out I was pregnant.
“The pregnancy was high-risk, so I didn’t want to get on a plane back to the UK.
“I thought it would be best to stay in the US with my husband.”
Katie said she contacted several immigration lawyers and was told she could proceed through the green card process.
She also claims she was advised that, given her medical situation, overstaying her visitor visa would not be treated as an issue.
“We didn’t plan on doing an overstay, but we were told that it would not be an issue,” Katie said.
“I ended up overstaying my visitor visa because there were lots of issues with my pregnancy, as it was high-risk. We decided to pause my green card application until after my son was born.”
According to Katie, she began the green card application in July 2025 and later received an interview date of November 19, 2025.
She said the interview itself seemed positive, and she believed it had finished when three ICE agents walked in.
She said: “It was so bizarre, I was holding my baby boy at the time, and I was crying. I could not believe what was going on.
“The USCIS supervisor came in during the arrest, saying that I was eligible for a green card.
“She was crying trying to tell the ICE agents, but they had their orders, and they would not approve my green card.”
Katie said she remained detained for five days until the application was ultimately approved. Even then, she claims ICE staff told her they could not simply release her from the facility.
Instead, she says she was restrained and transported to the US-Mexico border, where she was dropped off. She recalled: “They told me they can’t release people from the detention centre and they have to take me to the Mexico border. It was really bizarre.
“They placed me back in handcuffs and ankle cuffs, which was distressing as I had just been accepted for my green card.
“Luckily, my husband works near the border, so he was waiting there to take me home.”