WATCH: Federal Brokers Lastly ARREST Unlawful Alien After 20 Years in U.S. | JP
A video of the arrest of an illegal alien who was living in our country for 20 years is going viral on social media.
39-year-old Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva from El Salvador was dragged away, kicking and screaming, by ICE agents at Salt Lake City airport on Wednesday.
Bystanders can be heard calling for agents to “have mercy” on the woman.
As if being allowed to live illegally in the U.S. for two decades wasn’t enough “mercy!”
Watch here:
Backup:
🚨 GREAT NEWS: Federal agents have been spotted ARRESTING an illegal alien from El Salvador, here for nearly 20 YEARS illegally, at Salt Lake Airport.
She’s screaming and making a scene.
While onlookers chant: “Have MERCY!”
She got mercy for nearly 2 decades. Enough. Goodbye. pic.twitter.com/HRiYiavukI
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 1, 2025
The woman’s attorney says that she is legally authorized to work and live in the U.S.
Per Fox 13 Now:
The woman caught on video being detained by ICE agents at Salt Lake City International Airport this week is legally allowed to be in the United States and has the paperwork to prove it, her attorney claimed.
“When you hear her yelling and screaming, I have papers, I’m here legally, she wasn’t lying. She was actually saying exactly what she thought she was,” said immigration attorney Adam Crayk…
“The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the very entity that refers her to court, keeps issuing her a work permit,” Crayk explained. “In fact, in 2024, she just got reissued a work permit. So at the airport, she’s walking around with a valid work permit, which tells you that you’re walking around just fine.”
FOX 13 News was shown a copy of that work permit by Crayk, with an employment authorization approval letter that says valid until 2029.
“She’s legally and lawfully allowed to work in the United States.” Crayk insisted.
However, ICE tells a different story.
They say that she was living illegally in the U.S. and given deportation orders back in 2020, which she never complied with.
From the Daily Mail:
In a statement, ICE identified Leiva as being in the country illegally and said she was originally from El Salvador, having entered the US in 2007.
Leiva was targeted in what they described in a statement as a ‘targeted enforcement operation’ after being given a final order of removal in absentia in February 2020.
If she really wanted to become an American, then 20 years is plenty of time to become a legal U.S. citizen.
Deport her and let her come back the right way.
Your thoughts?