Wisconsin trooper released after ICE detained him at an airport
Wisconsin state trooper Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe was released after ICE detained him at a Madison airport. He remains under supervision while his asylum case continues.
A Wisconsin state patrol trooper detained by federal immigration officers at an airport last week has been released from custody, his attorneys said, though his immigration case is not over. Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, a South African national, was stopped on Thursday at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison as he waited to board a domestic flight.
Attorneys at the Christopher & De León law firm said Van Der Merwe came to the United States as a teenager and has been waiting years for an asylum case to be heard. They said he has federal work authorization, which he used to serve as a state trooper, and that he is included in his father's asylum application. The firm said officers detained him even after he explained those papers.
The Department of Homeland Security gave a different account. A spokesperson said Van Der Merwe entered the country in March 2019 with permission to stay only through September 2019 and then overstayed. The department said a work permit or a pending application does not confer legal status. His lawyers disputed that framing, noting that another part of the same department had authorized him to work.
Van Der Merwe was released late Friday under an order of supervision that requires regular check-ins and, his lawyers said, electronic monitoring. They called the release welcome news but said he still must defend his case before an immigration judge.
The episode drew attention because it involved a sworn state law-enforcement officer with pending asylum paperwork, and because it happened at a domestic airport. It does not, by itself, resolve the legal dispute over his status.
This summary is original reporting by tehworldnews, written after checking the facts against several major international news outlets and official statements.