What was supposed to be a honeymoon trip turned into a monthslong ordeal for a Venezuelan man who was detained by immigration authorities after visiting a Trump-owned hotel in Florida with his wife.
Bryan José Rojas Galofre and his wife, Socorro Zaragosa, traveled to the Trump National Doral resort in January 2025. Their honeymoon quickly took an unexpected turn when Rojas was detained by immigration agents at a security checkpoint outside the property.
In an interview with Telemundo, Rojas said he was accused of having ties to a criminal gang and spent three months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Florida.
"In the end, it was a bad decision," Rojas said of his wife's dream of seeing President Donald Trump, who was at the hotel on Jan. 27 for a Republican retreat. Zaragosa, a U.S. citizen, has long been a supporter of the president.
Rojas said the detention left him fearing deportation to El Salvador and cost him nearly everything he had built in the United States. According to Rojas, he entered the United States in September 2021 and surrendered to Border Patrol agents, telling them he was fleeing Venezuela. He was released while his asylum claim was processed, NBC News reported.
He later found work at a brake disc manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, where he met Zaragosa. Rojas said he was earning $29 an hour and had been promoted to line supervisor before his arrest.
The couple married in September 2024 and had begun the process of adjusting his immigration status when they left for their honeymoon.
Upon arriving at the hotel, their vehicle was searched by Secret Service agents and officers from the Doral Police Department. During the search, authorities found an air pistol, which Zaragosa said she carried for personal protection, and a metal marijuana grinder in the glove compartment.
The couple was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. That case remains pending in Florida.
Rojas said authorities separated him from his wife after noticing his tattoos and questioning whether he belonged to a gang.
"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," Rojas told said. "At that time, the news surrounding the Tren de Aragua gang was making major headlines."
He was subsequently transferred to the Federal Detention Center in Miami, where he remained for three months. Rojas said he was unable to speak with his wife for nearly a month after being taken into custody. During that time, Zaragosa gave birth to the couple's child and said she returned to work the day after delivering because the family could not afford to miss a paycheck.
"We had nothing for the baby," Zaragosa said.
He was granted bond in April 2025 and released from detention on May 6, 2026. According to NBC News, Rojas was unable to renew his work permit while detained after it expired, and he also lost the ability to renew his driver's license.
The financial toll has been severe. The couple estimates they are now more than $80,000 in debt as a result of the detention and legal proceedings.
Zaragosa said her support for Trump was influenced by her grandfather. However, she now believes the administration's immigration policies are discriminatory.
"We are all human beings. God created us Himself," she said.
Despite what they had to endure, Zaragosa said she does not blame Trump personally.
"I don't think anything bad about the president," she said. "It wasn't his fault; it was our fault."
Zaragosa said she only wanted to fulfill a dream but, "in trying to make that dream come true, my life was ruined. It destroyed my happiness."
