What should have been a time of mourning for Agustin Baccega and his husband Gustavo Romanello, two asylum seekers originally from Argentina, quickly turned into a nightmare when they stepped off the plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to see Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) there, too.
The married couple, asylum seekers from Argentina and acrobats who trained at the Arizona Circus Center before moving to Orlando for theme park work, arrived in Phoenix Nov. 7 to gather with friends after the death of a fellow circus trainer.
While Romanello was on the phone with Jonathan Batchelor, a longtime friend and Phoenix resident, to figure out a ride, a casually dressed ICE agent approached Baccega and told him he was under arrest for being in the country illegally, according to Batchelor.
When Baccega told the agent, “I have asylum,” the agent told him, “That’s not sufficient basis for staying in the country or for being in the country,” then handcuffed him, according to Batchelor, who heard the exchange over the phone. After Romanello asked for more information, an ICE agent asked for his name and then asked another officer for a second pair of handcuffs, Batchelor said.
“It seems like some sort of bullying tactic,” Batchelor said. “The men don’t even properly identify themselves. It heightens the terror considerably because you have no sense that this is being done properly.”
ICE has significantly increased arrests at airports under President Donald Trump’s second administration. The American Civil Liberties Union said since Trump’s second term through Feb. 2026, ICE has arrested more than 800 people at airports, including noncitizens “with no prior arrest history, people currently authorized to remain in the US due to a pending immigration application, and people who hold a temporary or discretionary status such as DACA, TPS, or parole.”
In a Nov. 13 statement, an ICE spokesperson said the arrests were part of a targeted enforcement action. Both men entered the US legally in 2020, Baccega through Miami International Airport on Sept. 8 and Romanello through Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 30, but remained past their authorized periods, which ended in March and April 2021, according to the statement provided by ICE.
The spokesperson said a work permit or pending application “does not confer immigration status or prevent ICE from taking enforcement action, including arrest or removal proceedings.”
“As a result, Romanello and Baccega will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” the spokesperson added.
ICE’s statement did not allege that either man has a criminal record or a prior removal order.
A pending asylum application does not automatically grant legal status. However, under federal law, the time an individual spends waiting on an asylum claim generally doesn’t count as an “unlawful presence.” That protection, however, doesn’t prevent ICE from making an arrest or starting deportation proceedings, where an immigration judge can still make a final ruling. As ICE seeks to meet quotas, immigration lawyers warn that immigrants in a legal gray area could be targeted.
“ICE is exploiting that gray area as an opportunity to arrest and detain them,” Rosanna Berardi, a Buffalo-based immigration attorney, told ABC News in July.
Since the couple’s arrest, their friends have been working to get them out of ICE custody with little contact with the pair. Batchelor said the few phone calls he’s had with them have been expensive, with weak connections that cut off.
“This has nothing to do with protecting the border. They came here legally,” Batchelor said. “This has nothing to do with fighting crime. This has nothing to do with keeping anybody safer.”
‘Horrible’ conditions
The two were taken to ICE’s Phoenix Field Office and transferred the same day to the Florence Service Processing Center in Pinal County, according to Batchelor.
“The conditions are absolutely horrible. They were put in a room with hundreds of other people. They didn’t even have a place to lay down,” Batchelor said. “No proper clothing. No pillow, no blanket, no nothing to sleep on. They slept sitting up in a chair.”
The Florence facility has a long record of complaints about overcrowding and medical neglect. A June report from the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project described “inhumane” and “deplorable” conditions at the Florence Staging Facility, including 200 to 300 men held in rooms designed for about 100 people. US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Phoenix), who has made repeated oversight visits to Arizona ICE facilities, likened the conditions inside ICE facilities to “concentration camps” in June.
Once they were processed at Florence, Baccega received a blanket and a towel, Batchelor said. Baccega was later transferred to the Eloy Detention Center, about 25 miles away, separating him from his husband, who remains at Florence as of Nov. 13, according to the ICE detainee locator.
“They’ve been separated for no apparent reason. I don’t know why you would separate them,” Batchelor said. “They’re certainly no danger to anybody, and it seems calculated purely to increase their distress.”
Who are Agustin Baccega and Gustavo Romanello?
They’ve been “exceptional” acrobats for more than 10 years, Batchelor said. The two came to the US from Argentina in 2020 fleeing persecution, according to Batchelor, and have paid taxes and into Social Security since. They’ve performed at Universal Orlando, most recently in “The Untrainable Dragon” show at Universal’s Epic Universe, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Batchelor said they’ve also coached “countless” adults and children.
“They are model citizens,” Batchelor said. “They’re constantly working to contribute to their communities.”
Daniella Eldracher, an aerialist who trained alongside the pair in 2021, said “they’re harder workers than anyone I know,” and that despite their move to Florida, the two stayed in close contact with the Phoenix acrobatic community.
The pair arrived on valid visas, applied for asylum and have work permits valid until 2029, Batchelor said. They are still awaiting a decision on their asylum case, which can take years because of the backlog in immigration courts. Friends of the pair have retained an immigration attorney to seek bond hearings for both men, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the couple, which had raised nearly $52,000 as of Nov. 13. The page says bond is expected to be set at an upcoming hearing.
“ICE is now arresting them, initiating removal proceedings against them, which is going to require a final determination regarding their asylum applications,” Batchelor said. “Now, they’re doing it in detention at tremendous taxpayer expense, tearing families apart and terrorizing communities, depriving us of everything that they’ve contributed. It’s absolutely incoherent.”
Batchelor said the conditions and isolation are wearing on them.
“They’re extremely scared, frightened, lonely, and missing their loved ones. I can’t even imagine the trauma,” Batchelor said. “It was traumatic for me just to hear that take place. How much worse it must have been for them to actually be going through it, to be dragged through this system.”
Eldracher called the arrest “especially horrible considering the circumstances,” since the couple couldn’t mourn their friend alongside the community.
“[It’s] very difficult for all of us, feeling like we can’t even process our grief until we get this sorted out,” Eldracher said. “It’s been hard.”
Batchelor said the friend group has spent the days since working around the clock to raise awareness instead of grieving.
“We haven’t even been able to properly live our lives,” Batchelor said. “This has been an all-consuming concern. You can’t watch your friends be taken and then just go back to your life. They were snatched out of their lives in a shocking and outrageous manner. You can’t just listen to that and go back to having dinner with your friends or watching Netflix. You can’t escape it.”
Friends are raising money for the couple’s legal fees on GoFundMe.
