A Washington dad was treated like an “animal” by ICE agents who detained him Friday as he drove to pick up his four-year-old daughter, his wife told the Daily Beast.
Guilherme “Gui” Lemes Cardoso E Silva, 35, was allegedly “ambushed” by agents who were waiting for him in an unmarked car when he drove onto a private road near his home on San Juan Island, near the U.S. border with Canada.
Silva’s wife, Rachel Leidig, told the Beast that her spouse has no criminal record and was working as an artist, having recently flown across the U.S. to paint murals. He had recent gigs in Austin, Texas, and in New York, which he traveled to using his valid driver’s license.
Leidig said her husband, a native of Brazil who entered the U.S. legally during the first Trump administration, also has a Social Security number and was in the final stages of obtaining a green card. She said he received a work permit and a Social Security number thanks to his first marriage, and was in the process of obtaining a green card for the second time.
Silva and Leidig first met at a Flaming Lips concert in San Francisco in 2023, having been set up by a mutual friend. Leidig says they got married in April and that Silva planned to move in with her in Sausalito, California, soon. She said she is due to give birth to their first child in October.
“We’re having a little boy,” she told the Beast. “We’re very excited, and [his daughter] Zahara is so excited...”
She continued, getting emotional, “I just want him out so that [Zahara] doesn’t have to grow up without her dad, because he’s known for four years, who’s her best friend, and I don’t want our little boy to go without knowing his dad.”
Loved ones fear that Silva’s whereabouts were phoned in to an ICE tip line. She said such a call may have been made to harm his chances in an ongoing custody battle.
Leidig said she is not aware of any other reason why Silva, who is trilingual and was a lawyer in Brazil, would be targeted by immigration authorities. ICE did not respond to a list of questions emailed by the Daily Beast on Wednesday morning about the case.
Leidig is holding out hope that Silva, who is currently held at a facility in Tacoma, will be granted bond at a hearing this month. In the meantime, she said she is continuing to submit the final documents required to potentially obtain a green card for him.
“Everyone needs to be made aware that they’re being lied to [by the Trump administration],” she said. “They’re not just getting criminals, they’re getting people just to get their numbers up. And it’s not just that they’re ruining people’s lives—they’re ruining families.”
ICE has significantly increased its arrest numbers in recent months, widening its targets from convicted criminals to seemingly anyone undocumented that it can arrest. The spike came after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller mandated that ICE make at least 3,000 migrant arrests a day during a heated May meeting at its D.C. headquarters. He suggested agents start with raids on Home Depot stores, where undocumented day workers go to find jobs.
Leidig said she and Silva had been on edge during the Trump administration, but never expected him to be arrested the way he was. She noted Silva is a father to an American daughter, a husband to an American wife, and has not missed deadlines during his green card and work permit process.
That good behavior has not lent him preferred treatment behind bars. Leidig said the food served to the health-conscious Silva during his first two days in custody caused him to throw up. He spent those nights—at an ICE facility in Ferndale, Washington—sleeping on the ground in a crowded cell, she said. Reports show that the Ferndale facility is an unmarked warehouse located in a business park.
Leidig alleged that the officers who arrested Silva were unprofessional. Her husband claimed that they were laughing as they took him into custody and refused to show him an arrest warrant, despite assuring him that they had one.
She described a disorganized process after his arrest, which included an ICE agent allegedly speaking to him in Spanish—a language he is fluent in, but is not his native Portuguese.
“The agents were being rough with Gui until they realized he’s educated, trilingual, and requested respect the whole ride,” Leidig said.
Leidig added that agents strip-searched her husband and inspected his tattoos, asking him if he had any gang affiliation, which she says he does not. Next came two nights in a cramped facility.
“He said there were like 35 people in a room, just sleeping on the floor and going to the bathroom and throwing up,” Leidig recalled.
Leidig said she has hired an attorney to assist with Silva’s green card application and to hopefully secure his release on bail at a hearing this month. Her family has raised over $66,000 on GoFundMe to help cover legal fees.
