This N.J. Trump voter’s husband was detained by ICE: ‘I thought they’d focus on criminals.’

Abdellatif Hafraoui sits at a small dining table in the Bayonne apartment he shares with his wife, Sandra, sipping his morning coffee — a ritual unchanged over their 15 years of marriage.

Since August, however, that routine has been shadowed by months in ICE detention and the black ankle monitor now strapped around his leg.

The couple paid a $15,000 bond for his release just before Thanksgiving. Abdellatif spent 108 days detained — from Aug. 11 to Nov. 26 — after ICE agents arrested him at Newark Liberty International Airport. His Moroccan passport remains in government custody while his immigration case proceeds.

“I would like to go back to work, to feel normal again,” Abdellatif, 60, said. “To have my life back without all this fear and uncertainty.”

As of late December, 70,805 people were in ICE detention nationwide, according to USAFacts, a nonprofit that compiles government data. Various reports have found that only a small percentage of detainees have criminal records.

Immigration attorneys say many detainees, like Abdellatif, have longstanding ties to the United States and are caught in years-old removal orders triggered by missed court dates or paperwork errors.

Abdellatif is among those detained despite having no criminal record.

Abdellatif Hafraoui recounts his harrowing experience in ICE custody at his home in Bayonne, New Jersey on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Media

ICE comes for ‘Latif’

The Hafraouis were headed to Fort Myers, Florida, for a two-week getaway—their first time away in years.

They never made it past the terminal.

As they prepared to board their early-morning flight at Newark, three men in plain clothes and a woman wearing a lanyard with a badge approached them. The woman identified herself as an ICE agent. Moments later, Abdellatif was handcuffed.

He had dressed for warm weather — T-shirt, shorts and sandals.

Agents shuffled him into an unmarked van and drove away without telling Sandra Hafraoui, 53, where he was going.

“They looked at him and said his ‘status is unclear,’” Sandra said. “‘You’re going with us.’ Then the lady pointed at me and said, ‘You don’t want to make a scene here.’”

The van disappeared. Sandra was left standing in the terminal with their luggage.

An airport employee saw her break down in the nearly empty baggage claim area and brought her a bottle of water. It was a small kindness she hasn’t forgotten.

The couple had planned to meet Monica Nuñez, 52, and her husband, Richard Nuñez, 54, who had flown in from California. Monica was on a connecting flight when she switched off airplane mode and saw Sandra’s frantic messages.

“She was huffing and puffing, saying ICE had taken Latif,” Nuñez said. “My stomach dropped. I looked at my husband and said, ‘Let’s reroute our trip.’ There was no vacation.”

Most of the expenses were nonrefundable — flights, an Airbnb rental, car reservations. Thousands of dollars were lost.

“It wasn’t just the money,” Sandra said. “It was everything we put into it.”

While in New Jersey, the Nuñezes helped Sandra gather paperwork for an attorney and agreed to serve as co-sponsors in Abdellatif’s case.

“To be a co-sponsor, you have to prove he won’t be a burden on society,” Nuñez said. “We had to show our income, our bank accounts, any property we own — everything. It’s a lot of personal information. But we filled out the paperwork and submitted the documents because we weren’t going to let him face this alone.”

Sandra served as Abdellatif’s primary sponsor.

Abdellatif Hafraoui and his wife Sandra recount his harrowing experience in ICE custody at their home in Bayonne, New Jersey on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Media

Life before detention

Abdellatif arrived in the United States at 22.

He has now lived in here for more than 38 years — longer than he lived in Morocco.

“I’m American. I actually don’t know anything that’s going on in Morocco.”

He was drawn by images of prosperity he saw in Hollywood films.

“When I was a kid, I used to watch American movies,” he said. “That’s what attracted me to come here.”

Sandra remembers him telling her about an episode of the iconic television show, “Dallas.” In a scene, a character tipped a gas station attendant $50. He told her he just sat there calculating how much that was in Moroccan money.

Years later, he had built a life here.

Before his arrest, Abdellatif worked as a concierge in a Midtown Manhattan residential building for nearly two decades. He had previously been sponsored by an employer and held valid work permits for several years. After marrying Sandra in 2011, his authorization was renewed under a spousal petition while he pursued permanent residency.

More than a decade ago, before their marriage, Abdellatif hired attorney Earl Seth David to file naturalization paperwork. David failed to notify him of a scheduled immigration court hearing. When Abdellatif did not appear, a deportation order was issued in absentia.

David was later convicted in federal court for running a large immigration fraud scheme and sentenced to five years in prison.

Unaware of the missed court date, Abdellatif continued renewing work authorization and later filed a Form I-130 — Petition for Alien Relative — after marrying Sandra.

Because the prior deportation order remained active, ICE later moved to enforce it.

Sandra and Abdellatif were staunch supporters of President Donald Trump. They even flew to Las Vegas to attend a Trump rally in 2020.Sandra Hafraoui

Political reckoning

The arrest forced Sandra to reconsider assumptions she had long held about immigration enforcement.

“To think we were MAGA!,” Sandra proclaimed. The couple even attended a Trump rally in Las Vegas in 2020.

Sandra voted for President Trump three times, believing enforcement would focus on people with criminal records — not individuals like her husband.

Asked what she would say to him now, she paused.

“You said you were going after the worst of the worst, but instead you ruined our life,” she said.

Abdellatif Hafraoui recounts his harrowing experience in ICE custody at his home in Bayonne, New Jersey on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Media

A detainee’s experience

Abdellatif was first taken to the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, where he was fingerprinted, photographed and issued a blue jumpsuit.

Days blurred quickly.

Visiting proved difficult. Instructions were unclear, and volunteers outside the facility helped Sandra navigate the process.

During one visit, Abdellatif reached over to brush crumbs from her sleeve. A guard intervened, shouting obscenities and threatening to end the visit.

“There was no compassion,” Sandra said. “Just constant humiliation.”

Abdellatif Hafraoui was falsely told his wife bought him a ticket to return to Morocco. When he refused to board the plane he was placed in solitary confinement for 10 days.Sandra Hafraoui

About two and a half weeks after his arrest, Abdellatif said officers pressured him to board a commercial flight and sign away his rights.

“They told me if I didn’t get on the flight, I would be punished,” he said.

He refused.

The punishment was 10 days in solitary confinement.

After that, he was transferred out of state—first to Louisiana and later to Arizona— moves Sandra struggled to track.

On one charter flight, he said shackled detainees who became ill struggled to reach the bathroom.

“The smell filled the plane,” he said. “People were vomiting. You couldn’t move.”

Weeks later, he was again placed on a charter flight—this time scheduled to deport him to Morocco, even though his case was still pending review in New Jersey.

That same morning, a New Jersey immigration judge overturned the prior deportation order.

Abdellatif was removed from the plane.

Contacting congress

The Hafraouis are represented by U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, D-8th Dist.

“In this instance, it was both ICE and USCIS that we were engaging with to determine where he was,” Menendez said. “He was moved several times, and I think that’s a purposeful decision this administration has made—to make it hard to track individuals and for attorneys to have access to their clients.”

After additional pressure from Menendez’s office, Abdellatif was transferred back to New Jersey and later released on bond.

Abdellatif Hafraoui, who spent four months in ICE detention, has been married for 15 years and held the same job for 18 years. A judge described him as a flight risk upon his release, and he is now required to wear an ankle bracelet with scheduled checkups at his home in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Media

Living in limbo

Since his release, Abdellatif has been required to attend ICE check-ins and live under electronic monitoring. He cannot return to work.

In addition to the $15,000 bond, the couple estimates they have spent about $50,000 in legal fees to date, draining savings built over decades. They have launched a GoFundMe to help cover ongoing costs.

“We just want to be treated like people with rights,” Sandra said. “Not as problems to be managed.”

They still hope to take that beach vacation one day.

“Next time we take a trip,” she said, “we’ll be driving right past the airport.”