Permanent Resident Detained at Detroit Airport After Admitting She Voted in Local Election

Customs and Border Protection officers detained a 57-year-old permanent resident named Estelle for 30 hours at Detroit airport in mid-March 2026 after she acknowledged having voted in a local election. Estelle was held while on a layover traveling home from visiting her ailing father in France. Officers threatened her with deportation and placed her in removal proceedings.

A CBP spokesperson confirmed that officers detained a woman matching Estelle’s description at Detroit airport and placed her in removal proceedings. The spokesperson stated that voting illegally is a deportable offense. “The Trump Administration will continue to enforce our nation’s laws,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Estelle told customs officers she had voted once in a local election because a state motor vehicles department employee told her she was eligible when renewing her driver’s license. She insists she told the motor vehicles department employee that she was not a citizen. A customs officer asked Estelle if she had ever registered to vote or voted; she answered that she had voted once.

7, 2023 local election; she confirmed she had. Estelle registered to vote in September 2023 as part of renewing her driver’s license. Douglas County records showed she registered in September 2023 and was not affiliated with a political party.

She voted in the November 2023 election that included races for city council and school boards in Douglas County, Kansas. Estelle did not vote in any election after November 2023, including the 2024 presidential election. She was forced to spend the night in a holding cell on a concrete slab during her 30-hour detention at Detroit airport.

Estelle was held in a cell with a thin mattress on a concrete slab and a blanket donated by an airline. She was released after more than 30 hours in custody at Detroit airport. Estelle had no prior criminal history and had not otherwise violated the terms of her green card.

An immigration judge granted Estelle’s request to cancel her removal proceedings. “It’s clear as day she wasn’t trying to break the law,” he said.

On March 23, Jamie Shew received an administrative subpoena from CBP asking for Estelle’s voter registration application and voting records. Jamie Shew is the clerk for Douglas County, Kansas. Shew said he didn’t have the application, just data passed on by the secretary of state’s office.

Estelle asked Jamie Shew to cancel her voter registration; he did so on March 31. U.S. citizenship to register to vote. Lawrence, Kansas is not one of the cities that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has played no part in election-fraud investigations. In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to use their resources to help find and prosecute noncitizen voters.

DHS revamped a tool to allow states to check registered voters’ citizenship status en masse. Homeland Security Investigations will look into more than 24,000 voters flagged by SAVE as potential noncitizens. ProPublica reported the case, which had not previously been made public.

He worries that by moving straight to deportation proceedings, the federal government has found a way to skip prosecuting and convicting.