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

Updated: Feb. 23, 2026, 2:44 p.m.|Published: Feb. 22, 2026, 8:00 a.m.
By Ande Richards | NJ.com

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.

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.

...

https://www.nj.com/mosaic/2026/02/this-nj-trump-voters-husband-was-detained-by-ice-i-thought-theyd-focus-on-criminals.html