Swiss woman, 23, detained by US ICE at Dallas airport faces possible deportation

From au pair to Green Card application

A woman from Zurich arrived in the United States in 2023 as an au pair, working for a family in Dallas. There she met the American man she later married. She went back to Switzerland for a period for visa reasons, then returned to the US in mid-2025, when the couple married and applied for a permanent residence permit, a Green Card, for her. They moved into a flat in Dallas while the application was pending. Her residence permit was slow to arrive, and she did not leave the country because she feared being refused re-entry.

Arrest at Dallas airport

On Friday, 30 October 2026, three plain-clothes ICE agents detained the woman at a departure gate in Dallas Airport, Texas. She and her husband were about to board a flight to another state, where her family from Switzerland was due to join them for a holiday by the sea. Her husband argued that the couple were married and had submitted all the papers for her residence application, but the agents did not change their decision. The woman was taken away without being able to take her belongings, and her handbag stayed with her husband. Her relatives were still at Zurich airport when they learned of the arrest, and they boarded their flight anyway to try to help.

Detention and conditions

Her relatives heard from her only two days later, according to Watson. She was first held in a detention centre in Dallas, then moved to a prison in Oklahoma, where relatives say she was dressed in orange, had chains on her hands and feet and had no privacy. Her last known status is a facility holding her for expulsion proceedings. Watson reports she is now thought to be held again near Dallas, where she is kept alongside 70 other women. Stanley Radtke, an immigration lawyer interviewed by Watson, said conditions in such centres are deliberately harsh, with poor food and no heating, so that many detainees sign papers agreeing to leave.

Swiss government response and legal options

The FDFA confirmed the case to the Keystone-ATS news agency and says its consulate general in Atlanta is in touch with US authorities and the woman's family. According to her family, her residence permit expired in November. The department cannot secure her release or intervene in court proceedings, and it has withheld further details for data protection reasons. It said:

“Switzerland respects the sovereignty and legal order of the country concerned.”

The department's role is limited to making sure her right to a defence and humane detention conditions are respected. Relatives have contacted lawyers in the US, but they say legal steps are expensive and could extend her detention by several months.

Re-entry ban risk

A US immigration lawyer interviewed for the story says arrests during a pending Green Card application have become standard only since Donald Trump's second term. He described this as a political calculation aimed at reducing immigration to the US to zero. Some lawyers consulted believe the woman will probably have to leave the country voluntarily, a choice that would bring a re-entry ban lasting several years. Her family is preparing for her deportation to Switzerland, which they expect to happen soon.