John Gannon, a 75-year-old lifelong Republican and Texas businessman, says he deeply regrets his decision to vote for President Trump after his fiancée, 45-year-old Yasmin Suarez Reyes, was arrested and detained by federal immigration agents last month.
Their plans to marry were derailed when Suarez Reyes was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport in late July. “I voted for Trump,” Gannon told during an interview Wednesday, before criticizing the agency’s tactics. “They are picking up law-abiding citizens. They’re destroying families, jobs.”
When asked what he would tell Mr. Trump if given the chance to speak with him, Gannon said he would ask the president, “What are you doing?” He added, “Go after the criminals. We’re all for that. But leave the mom and pops and the kids alone. Man, he’s destroying families.”
Gannon, who owns more than 1,000 billboards in the U.S. as well as several establishments in Mexico, including a hotel and a restaurant, said he and Suarez Reyes were traveling to Las Vegas for a furniture industry convention when the arrest occurred. After passing through security, Gannon said his fiancée was swarmed by plainclothes agents.
“After leaving the United room, eight officers, ICE agents swarmed Yasmin and detained her. They didn’t tell us why and wrestled her off into a car,” he recounted. Anne Kennedy, an immigration attorney and fellow lifelong Republican, noted that her client was arrested despite entering the country legally, maintaining a pending immigration case, and lacking any criminal record.
Government records show that while Suarez Reyes was born in Venezuela, she holds citizenship in Spain, one of the more than 40 countries whose citizens are eligible to come to the U.S. as tourists or temporary travelers under the visa-free arrangement. She entered the U.S. legally in October 2023 under the Visa Waiver Program.
Although stays under the program generally last 90 days, Suarez Reyes applied for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in January 2024 before that timeframe lapsed. Documents confirm that her asylum case remains pending, and Kennedy stated her client had successfully obtained a work permit and a Texas driver’s license in the interim. Kennedy noted that Suarez Reyes would also have an avenue to apply for permanent residency if she were able to marry Gannon.
However, because her underlying permission to be in the U.S. expired, Suarez Reyes was detained to be processed for deportation, according to correspondence Kennedy received from ICE. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to multiple inquiries regarding the case, though ICE’s online tracking system recently indicated she was being held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.
“For almost two weeks now, she has been in a physical jail cell, when she has done nothing more than follow the laws of the United States and do what our immigration laws allow her to do,” Kennedy said. Suarez Reyes is one of many immigrants arrested in recent weeks at airports across the country as part of the Trump administration’s latest deportation crackdown, which contributed to a record monthly high in ICE arrests.
Many of those targeted in this airport initiative exist in a legal gray area, holding valid work permits and pending cases but remaining vulnerable to arrest due to the expiration of their initial status. Back in Texas, Gannon said he misses his fiancée dearly. “She’s focused me more on my religious path,” he said, his voice breaking. “I mean, Yasmin’s good as gold.”
Gannon said he and Suarez Reyes were planning to travel from Houston to Las Vegas on July 24 for a furniture industry convention.
Source: CBS News
