A U.S. military veteran says she is leaving what she calls a “broken” America after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested her husband during his green card interview in San Diego.
Matheus Silveira, 30, a Brazilian national and delivery driver, was taken into custody on Nov. 22, 2025, while attending an interview at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. Four ICE agents entered the interview room and arrested him for overstaying his visa. He has remained in detention since.
His wife, Hannah Silveira, 30, a former U.S. Army combat medic, says the couple plans to leave the U.S. for Brazil in the coming weeks after Matheus was granted voluntary departure instead of deportation.
‘I Don’t Feel at Home Here Anymore’
Hannah said she feels unsafe in the U.S. and devastated by the decision to leave the life they were building.
“It is entirely unsafe here with the efforts being deployed by this administration,” she said. “I am absolutely devastated that I have to give up everything. I am a veteran. I was in the military. I gave a lot to my country, and I feel like they have given me nothing.”
She added, “I don’t feel at home here anymore.”
Plans Disrupted by Detention
Matheus moved to the U.S. in 2019 to study English and met Hannah in 2022. The couple married in August 2024 and planned to buy a home, start a family, and relocate to Minneapolis to be closer to Hannah’s relatives.
Hannah said lawyers advised Matheus it was acceptable to pursue a green card despite his visa overstay. She also claims detention center family rooms display posters encouraging detainees to leave the U.S., offering incentives to do so.
Conditions Inside Detention
Hannah described troubling conditions during visits to the ICE facility, saying detainees are underfed and overcrowded.
“He said people were sleeping on the floor as there were not enough beds,” she said, adding that meals were minimal. Because of a previous DUI charge, Matheus was denied bond and labeled a “danger to the community.”
‘America Is Broken’
Hannah says she no longer recognizes the country she served and doubts they will ever return.
“I cannot overstate how much I have to give up because my country isn’t there for me,” she said. “America is broken. If we returned, we would be returning to a place we no longer recognise.”
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