A Virginia Migrant Has Been Held in ICE Detention Center for Two Years Despite Holding a Citizenship: 'This is a Nightmare'

As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on immigration, more stories of legal migrants holding green cards being detained by ICE come to light. The latest in this saga entails a man who alleges he has been detained at an ICE facility in Bowling Green, Virginia.

His name is Mario Rene Lopez, a 44-year-old man born in El Salvador. He entered the U.S. as a permanent resident in 1992. His mom became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998, when he was 16 years old. Because of this, under law 8 USC 1432, which was repealed in 2000, he would have been granted automatic citizenship.

But his citizenship status has long been the subject of dispute, a new report by Noticias Telemundo details.

When he was 20 years old, Lopez was detained for drug possession and was sentenced to seven years in prison. According to legal documents, during his time in prison, he was visited by Department of Homeland Security Officials, who determined in 2009 that he had obtained American citizenship due to his relationship with his mother.

However, court documents from 2016 say DHS changed its stance on his case with no explanation, considering him a permanent resident rather than a citizen. The move called for a deportation order due to his previous charge of drug possession.

Since then, a legal battle has ensued to determine Lopez's immigration status, a battle that culminated in his detention at an ICE facility in 2023, under the Biden administration.

Lopez was detained by ICE officials on Jan. 12, 2023 and took him to Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green. For two years, he has tried to fight, unsuccessfully, with his detention and the revocation of his citizenship.

"I came to the United States when I was 12 years old, with a permanent residence permit because my mother was a resident and filed the paperwork and picked me up in El Salvador. I've been here my whole life," Lopez told Noticias Telemundo in a call from the ICE facility. "When my mother became a citizen, I was a minor. So I automatically obtained citizenship through my mother, but now they have me detained for no reason."

His family is advocating for his release, arguing his detention is unjust and recounting the toll the experience has taken on the group.

"It's been very traumatic because, from one day to the next, I was left alone with my children. It's a nightmare, and financially it's not easy either," Angelica Reyes, Lopez's wife, said.

Lopez's case started way before the Trump administration. However, experts consider his experience illustrates the challenges faced by naturalized migrants, a question the administration is eager to tackle in its immigration crackdown efforts.

"Due to both legal and procedural barriers, it can be extremely difficult for people to obtain derivative citizenship, even with the help of an attorney," Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, told Noticias Telemundo. "In fact, in some cases, this can result in people being stateless, meaning they don't have citizenship."

This isn't the first case in which a legal resident is detained, or deported, by ICE. In fact, the Trump administration is stretching its deportation powers, detaining legal residents who hold Green Cards.

The most notable case is that of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who organized protests at Columbia University to oppose the Israel-Gaza war. He is currently being detained at a remote Louisiana detention center, with his lawyers fighting across the country to free him.

Similarly, a Brown University doctor and professor, Rasha Alawieh, who was also a Green Card holder was deported this week back to her home country of Lebanon. The Justice Department detailed its reasons for deporting Alawieh in court filings, but a federal judge has sealed those documents.