ICE Targets “Legal” Immigrants Now?

A legal U.S. resident was seized by ICE at Los Angeles International Airport in full view of family and customs agents, sparking renewed panic over what rights green card holders truly have.

At a Glance

• A man with legal U.S. permanent residency was arrested at LAX on July 2.
• The individual had recently traveled to Mexico and was returning home.
• ICE claimed the man had a prior removal order from more than a decade ago.
• He remains in detention, with no criminal record cited in the arrest.
• The case follows a growing number of green card detentions at U.S. airports.

A Staggering Seizure at the Gate

Raul Sánchez, a legal permanent resident for more than 20 years, was returning from a family trip to Mexico when he was abruptly arrested by ICE officers at LAX. Witnesses say Sánchez had just cleared customs and was walking toward the baggage claim when plainclothes agents approached and detained him in front of his teenage children.

Watch a report: ICE detains green card holder – YouTube

ICE officials later stated that Sánchez was the subject of a “prior removal order” stemming from a 2007 proceeding—an order his attorneys say was never finalized or properly served. No new charges or criminal history were cited in his arrest. Yet the 53-year-old remains confined at an undisclosed detention center, and his family says they have received no formal update on his status.

A Widening Pattern of Detention

The incident is not isolated. Just last month, another green card holder was detained for nearly 50 days after ICE reclassified an old misdemeanor charge as a deportable offense. Legal experts argue that such reinterpretations are part of a broader enforcement campaign—one that increasingly ensnares lawful residents under technicalities and outdated warrants.

A similar crackdown unfolded with Julio César Chávez Jr., the former boxing champion, who was arrested in California despite holding permanent legal status. His case drew national attention and has been cited in legal filings over ICE’s discretionary overreach.

Judicial pressure is mounting. A federal court in Southern California recently ruled in Gonzalez v. ICE that warrantless ICE detentions based solely on database entries violate the Fourth Amendment. But the ruling hasn’t deterred agents from escalating efforts at transit hubs and immigration checkpoints.

Fallout at the Federal Level

Civil rights advocates warn that the current administration’s tacit approval of these tactics is fueling an immigration enforcement surge that disregards long-standing residency protections. Cases like Sánchez’s and that of Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi, arrested during a citizenship interview, underscore a critical erosion in procedural norms.

For Sánchez’s family, what began as a short vacation has turned into a legal and emotional nightmare. “We thought we were home,” his daughter reportedly told legal advocates. Now, as the spotlight turns back to ICE’s aggressive posture, the question remains—how many more legal residents will be quietly removed before the system corrects course?