Trump Supporter Shocked as Beloved Nanny Detained by ICE

A Texas woman who voted for President Donald Trump told Newsweek that federal agents detained her longtime childcare provider at a routine immigration check-in and later notified her that she faced more than $1.8 million in civil immigration penalties.

Joyce Basele, 64, a Houston-area caregiver and certified nursing assistant with no criminal record, was detained by ICE on June 18 after reporting to a scheduled immigration appointment in Houston, according to her employer and friend, Maureen Mendrek-Laske, a Houston-based engineer and mother of four.

"I don't think this is really what I voted for if I was voting for immigration reform," Mendrek-Laske told Newsweek in a phone interview. "I thought we were targeting criminals."

Newsweek contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment on July 28.

Attorney Leslie Giron Kirby told Newsweek that Basele, a Kenyan national, first entered the United States legally in 1995 on a visitor visa with her husband before returning to Kenya. She re-entered the United States on September 1, 2005, on an R-2 visa as a dependent of her husband's R-1 religious worker visa. Since then, she has attended every required DHS check-in for more than 14 years without missing one.

After a divorce caused her immigration status to lapse, Basele was issued a final order of removal in 2011.

Kirby said an immigration judge ordered Basele removed on June 22, 2011, and that the Board of Immigration Appeals later dismissed her appeal on June 20, 2012.

Basele was placed on an order of supervision on August 13, 2012, allowing her to remain in the country under supervision while regularly checking in with immigration authorities and maintaining work authorization.

Kirby said the Fifth Circuit dismissed a subsequent petition for review on November 28, 2012, after it was filed outside a court deadline. She added the court did not review the underlying immigration ruling on its merits.

A stay of deportation was granted on July 23 of this year, preventing ICE from carrying out Basele's removal while a humanitarian-based petition remains pending. Despite the stay, Basele remains in ICE custody.

Newsweek obtained a copy of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Notice of Violation and Order dated July 15, 2026, imposing $1,820,352 in civil penalties against Basele. The notice says she "willfully failed or refused to depart from the United States pursuant to the order."

Kirby disputed the government's characterization that Basele "willfully" failed to leave the country, noting that DHS placed her on an order of supervision in 2012 and required her to check in regularly for the next 14 years.

"It's difficult to reconcile the government supervising someone's continued presence for fourteen years with a claim that she 'willfully' refused to leave," Kirby said.

Kirby has revealed she plans to appeal the fine and questioned whether it could lawfully be applied to someone who had spent years in the country under ICE supervision, adding: "How could you fine somebody $1.8 million, alleging a fine for overstaying when you allow her to remain in the U.S. with permission to some extent?"

DHS announced on July 23 it had issued more than 103,000 civil fines totaling approximately $84 billion to immigrants who failed to leave the United States after receiving final orders of removal. The agency said the penalties include fines of up to $998 per day for individuals who do not voluntarily depart following a final removal order.

Under the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement strategy, ICE has increasingly targeted immigrants with long-standing final removal orders, including some who have lived in the United States for years while regularly checking in with immigration authorities and seeking legal relief at USCIS appointments.

Basele was initially transferred to a detention facility in Conroe before being moved to the Houston Processing Center, an ICE detention facility operated by private prison contractor CoreCivic, where she remains detained, Mendrek-Laske said.

Mendrek-Laske said Basele helped raise her four children and worked for the family for years as a childcare provider and caregiver.

"She's really part of our family," she said. "We have no family in the area. It's been the three of us, really."

Mendrek-Laske said she and her husband are conservative voters who supported Trump's calls for stronger border security.

"I voted for Trump," she said. "I've never voted Democrat."

But she said Basele's detention has left her questioning how immigration enforcement is being carried out.

Basele's daughter successfully filed an I-130 family petition on her behalf that was approved during Trump's first administration, according to Mendrek-Laske. However, Basele's attorneys have continued trying to address the outstanding removal order, which has complicated efforts to adjust her status.

Mendrek-Laske claimed that earlier attorneys handling Basele's case failed to properly pursue available legal remedies. She said one attorney did not submit documents requested by immigration authorities during efforts to reopen her case more than a decade ago.

Mendrek-Laske described the notice as a scare tactic and said her attorneys believe the penalties are not enforceable in light of recent filings seeking immigration relief.

"We tried to get her released, but it’s one new tactic after 'another – ICE using the fact that Joyce owes $1.8 million in fines," she said

"This is one case that I have seen that the government is going to every length that they can to try to deport this woman," Kirby added. "This is pretty egregious."

Kirby has said that even if Basele is released from detention, the $1.82 million penalty would remain in place unless it is successfully overturned on appeal. "This fine doesn't go away," Kirby said, adding that her office intends to challenge the assessment.

Basele's attorneys have recently submitted additional applications for immigration relief that they believe should protect her from removal while those filings remain pending, Mendrek-Laske said.

While detained, Basele has complained about living conditions and has appeared physically worn down, according to Mendrek-Laske, who said her family visits her regularly.

"She was there during her birthday," Mendrek-Laske said.

Basele's detention has also affected her family. She has two adult children living in the United States, she added.

For Mendrek-Laske, the experience has reshaped her understanding of the immigration system.

"I think we need some type of reform," she said. "People don't know about this process until it happens to somebody they know.Joyce is really the epitome of the American Dream. She's raised two kids on her own. She's worked two jobs for 15 years. She fully supports herself. She's been completely compliant."

Although ICE is currently barred from deporting Basele because of the July 23 stay, she remains in federal detention as her attorneys continue seeking her release.