by Olivier Acuña Barba •Published: May 8, 2025•23:56•3 minutes read
Green card holder Clio Naward was detained at San Francisco airport on April 21 and was later sent to an immigration facility in Tacoma, Washington. |Photo: GofundMe
Clíona Ward, 29, from Co Meath, Ireland, has a vision for the Golden Coast of California and is ready to crash on her cousin’s couch for the wonders of the summer. Instead, she was awarded a 17-day mission at the Minnesota Detention Center courtesy of the US immigration officer who caught her at Minneapolis St. Paul Airport on March 15th, 2025.
What about her valid ESTA visa and return tickets? It is deemed worthless in the face of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“The system basically made me a ghost.” I said Guardian After being released and shipped to Ireland. “No one told me why I was being held. I approved the ESTA (e-visa), but it wasn’t important.”
Ward, who was barred from calling her mother for several days and denied her lawyer, says she was treated like a smuggler had caught a redhead. “They kept saying that was a protocol,” she said in a tone of total disappointment. Two weeks later, authorities pinned her with “overstaying intent,” a flimsy accusation based on off-hand comments on the grill.
“I was humiliated and scared.”
Ward lands in the cell with a “losing heart” woman and sees the facility’s clock broken.
“I was humiliated,” she said. “I was terrified. I did everything right.”
The ward trial is not just a one-off. Since Trump took office in January 2025, Ice has detained more than 200,000 people, along with advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Estimated 3,000-5,000 people, like the ward, were accidentally swept by legal visa holders or citizens.
The US-based NGO also said it foreshadows more than 1.2 million people in the country that were deported under the Trump revival in 1798. Alien enemies do itironically, a Trump-appointed federal judge said it was “not effectively called out.”
Illegal deportation is difficult to pin. Dens are documented, including Kilmar Abrego García, Salvadoran, who was accidentally sent to El Salvador, and children of US citizens who were deported to Honduras.
I felt like a criminal to visit my cousin in the US
“Cliona was made to feel like a criminal to visit her cousin,” Ward’s mother was furious. “How is it okay?”
The Trump administration’s immigration blitz sparked global vigilance along with plans to expel immigrants into “hell-like” prisons in Libya, according to a 2023 UN report.
On May 7, 2025, US District Judge Brian Murphy condemned the brakes on these Libyan flights and determined they had violated legitimate procedures.
“All the justice, parliament and basic decency of the nine Supreme Court,” he wrote, citing Libya’s “life-threatening” conditions. However, the administration is focusing on offloading exiles to other third countries like Angola and Moldova.
Recently, British graphic artist Rebeckrack has experienced a similar ordeal. This prompted her to warn people about travelling to the US.
Is it three times more attractive? Not for Trump
The Supreme Court made three attempts in 2025 to curb Trump’s deportation. In April, it suspended Venezuela’s deportation under alien enemy law and called for legitimate proceedings.
Later that month, it blocked more removals from Texas Bluebonnet Detention Center. In March, they worked on illegal deportation like Garcia, but Trump’s teams often avoided the orders and insisted “administrative errors” or Pentagon-led flights that were not covered by injunctions. Despite these rulings, deportation was sent by April to Cecot Mega-Prison in El Salvador, with 37,660 people fired on ice per ice in February alone. The court screams for fouls, but the ice continues to attack even targeting schools and hospitals.
The ward saga, like the countless EU national sagas caught up in the net, exposes a system in which documents do not guarantee safety. An Irish consul official warned her late to detention, but only shrugged her shoulders.
For foreigners dreaming of our adventures, ward warning stabs: a valid visa may not save you from the cell. Pack the bag. However, they may refrain from road trips in the US. She is alone. Recently, British graphic artist Rebeckrack has gone through a similar ordeal. This prompted her to warn people about travelling to the US.
According to US government data, Trump’s deportation measures have reduced overseas visitors to the United States by 11.6%.
