A North Carolina couple who supported Donald Trump's immigration crackdown now say they feel "betrayed" after their son, a legal green card holder, was detained by ICE and faces possible deportation over a misdemeanor conviction.
Martin Verdi and Debora Rey, Argentine Americans who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s, voted for Trump in 2024, believing his policies targeted undocumented criminals, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Their son, 31-year-old Agustin Gentile, had lived in the U.S. since he was a toddler and held a green card. In 2020, he was convicted of a misdemeanor in California and given probation, a case that closed in 2023.
In February 2025, after returning from international travel, Gentile's green card was confiscated at LAX. ICE later detained him in North Carolina and transferred him to the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, one of the largest immigrant detention facilities in the U.S. He now awaits an immigration court hearing scheduled for May 12.
The family was shocked to learn that even legal residents with minor criminal records could be targeted under the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" approach.
"But he didn't say he was going to do this, that he was going to go after people who have been here for a long time ... He said he was going to go after all the criminals who came illegally," Rey said. "We feel betrayed, tricked."
They've filed a habeas corpus petition and raised over $20,000 via GoFundMe to support Gentile's legal fight. Meanwhile, their grandchildren remain unaware that their father is in jail.
Verdi and Rey say they would not have backed Trump had they known the true scope of the enforcement.
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