An Army reservist says he spent weeks trying to get his wife freed from immigration detention

US Army Reserve Black Hawk pilot Chris Busby, 28, and Stephanie Kenny-Velasquez, 25, went to an Austin courthouse on Dec. 3 to get their marriage certificate.

About 48 hours later, Velasquez entered the Houston Immigration and Customs Enforcement office for a routine check-in and never showed up, Busby said. The uncertainty has left newlyweds questioning whether their time serving the country is worth it, he said.

“Stephanie is beautiful, she’s smart, she’s amazing,” he said. “If it means sacrificing myself or my career to free him, I’ll do it.”

Busby, who joined the Army Reserves in 2015, has spent the last six weeks trying to get his wife out of custody. Despite his years of service and their recent marriage, Velasquez was denied bond on Jan. 9, according to his attorney.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment on Velasquez’s case.

Velasquez came to the United States in 2021, hoping to start a new life away from the violence and political instability of her native Venezuela. She has no criminal record and presented herself to immigration officials in Miami when she arrived in the country.

Meanwhile, Velasquez, 25, settled into life in Austin. She took a job at a local car wash and took classes to get her real estate license.

The couple met in March and Busby, 28, immediately knew she was the one.

“I’ve never met anyone like her,” he said. “She came here and wanted to be the best.”

Their families didn’t know the couple planned to marry, and so Busby said he wanted it. Busby said he was saving money from his glass installation business for a big wedding.

Velasquez’s asylum case was pending when he was detained.

Her brother, Oscar, described his younger sister as ambitious and driven. She hoped to one day start her own company and diligently saved money from washing cars and helping Busby with his window tinting business. She was studying for her real estate exam on the car ride to her immigration check-in, her husband said, adding that the exam was scheduled for next week.

“She worked so hard for everything she had,” her brother said. “She was so happy.”

But on the day his sister was scheduled to check in with immigration officials, the family was worried that Velasquez could fall under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown despite a recent marriage and pending asylum case, he said.

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled political repression and economic crisis to the United States seeking asylum or other legal protections such as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.

Trump has moved to repeal TPS for many Venezuelans, which is in effect since 2023, and as part of his agenda to restrict immigration from other countries. It has been allowed to proceed while legal challenges to the action make their way through the courts.

“We gave up a better future, more opportunities. Now if we move out, we can be stopped by ICE,” Oscar said.

Like other Venezuelans who have emigrated, Oscar said that returning to Venezuela after the ouster of Nicolas Maduro is now unthinkable. The country is too dangerous and unstable for them to return, he said.

Velasquez was transferred to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, about three hours from Austin. Her hair has been thinning since she entered custody, Busby said. She sleeps well in a bunk bed surrounded by 80 women, who share seven tablets to contact loved ones and lawyers, Busby said. They are allowed to visit once a week and are given edible food, he added.

According to her husband, the stress took its toll on Velasquez.

“The girl is 25. She shouldn’t look like she’s 40,” Busby said.

The couple is now hoping for a Hail Mary in the form of the military’s Parole in Place program, which aims to provide legal protection to spouses who do not have US citizenship.

But the administration has slowly chipped away at the program, and a 2024 court ruling ended the Biden-era expansion of naming families, which added stepchildren to the list of eligible relatives.

A message on the initiative’s website said the Department of Homeland Security will no longer accept applications or make decisions on those pending. The agency did not immediately respond to a request clarifying whether the parole program in place still applies to spouses.

“I’m doing my best but there’s little I can do,” Busby said. “I want to get him out of there.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com