Trump Fan’s Honeymoon Trip Unravels Into Immigration Nightmare
A Venezuelan migrant took his wife, a fan of President Donald Trump, on a road trip to Trump National Doral to celebrate their marriage—but he ended up detained and in federal custody for months.
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Bryan José Rojas Galofre and his wife, Socorro Zaragosa, road tripped from Wisconsin to Miami in January 2025, hoping to catch a glimpse of Trump during a Republican retreat at his hotel.
Things took a turn for the worse when they went through a hotel security checkpoint, the couple now tells Noticias Telemundo. Rojas, 34, was detained and taken to an ICE facility, setting off a legal battle that he says has drained his savings and left Zaragosa, 22, alone to look after their newborn baby for months.
“In the end, it was a bad decision,” Rojas said of their ill-fated road trip.
Rojas arrived in the U.S. in 2021 during the Biden administration. He told Border Patrol authorities that he was fleeing Venezuela and was released while his asylum application was pending. He has since become a line supervisor at a brake disc factory in Wisconsin and married Zaragosa in September 2024. He had just begun adjusting his immigration status through family sponsorship when they went on their honeymoon.
Zaragosa, meanwhile, was raised in Wisconsin in a family that supports Trump.
“I’m his fan. I believe Trump is a good president,” she told Noticias Telemundo while at the same time expressing disappointment at her husband’s ordeal.
“What he is doing to migrants isn’t fair,” she said of the president. “What happened to my family wasn’t fair.”
Agents from the Secret Service and the Doral police searched the couple’s vehicle at a security checkpoint when they arrived at the Trump hotel on Jan. 27, 2025. Authorities recovered an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets and was used by Zaragosa for her personal safety, and a metal marijuana grinder. Local authorities arrested the couple and charged them with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use. They pleaded not guilty, and the case is still open.
But then Rojas said authorities began to take note of his tattoos.
“They pulled me out of the car, they checked my tattoos, they started asking if I belonged to a gang, they took photos of me and put me under review to see if I was linked to terrorism,” he told Noticias Telemundo. “At that time, the news surrounding the Tren de Aragua gang was making major headlines.”
Rojas was taken to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami while authorities checked his possible ties to the group. He spent nearly three months in that facility and was unable to speak with his wife for a whole month.
“Bryan had no criminal record whatsoever; he hadn’t committed any crime. He had a pending legal proceeding that, under any previous administration, would not have been an issue,” his attorney Tahimi Rengifo said. “But under this administration, all these small details—the tattoo, the grinder, the BB gun—combined to create a situation that escalated significantly.”
Rojas was granted bond in April 2025 and transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach while his family raised the $15,000 bail and prepared additional documentation. He was finally released from detention in May 2025.
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“I am in an immigration limbo that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I don’t know how many people are in this situation—people who have posted bond, who have undergone vetting, who have no criminal record, who have been hardworking individuals since the moment they arrived, who have paid their taxes—and yet still have no right to a means of livelihood,” he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security described Rojas as a “criminal illegal alien from Venezuela who was arrested by local authorities on January 27, 2025, after he attempted to enter Trump National in Doral, Florida, with an airsoft gun. His criminal history includes charges for drug paraphernalia.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,” the spokesperson said.
“They want to keep smearing my name just to avoid granting me a work permit, thereby denying me my Social Security benefits. It is an outrage against my wife—who is an American citizen—and my two children,” Rojas pushed back in response.
Since their road trip, the family has lost their house and car, as well as Rojas’ 401(k) savings, to pay for lawyers and his bail. He says that his debts now exceed $80,000. Rojas says he is now a full-time father of two who remains haunted by the possibility of getting detained again.
Despite what she and her husband suffered, Zaragosa’s feelings toward Trump remain the same.
“I don’t think anything bad about the president,” she said. “It wasn’t his fault; it was our fault.”
She continued, “I just wanted to see him (Trump) and fulfill a dream, but in trying to make that dream come true, my life was ruined. It destroyed my happiness.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rojas, meanwhile, made an appeal to Trump.
“I would tell Mr. President and the United States government to show a little compassion toward the people who truly are doing things right in this country,” he said. “I arrived with a desire to work; I arrived with a desire to do things the right way.”
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