A Texas businessman and lifelong Republican says he regrets voting for Donald Trump after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up his fiancée at the airport.

John Gannon,75, is one of the millions of Americans who voted for Trump in support of his promise to carry out large-scale deportations of migrants living in the U.S. unlawfully, particularly those with criminal records. He never thought that his 45-year-old fiancée Yasmin Suarez Reyes, an immigrant from Venezuela, would get swept up by ICE.

“I voted for Trump,” he told CBS News during an interview. “They are picking up law-abiding citizens. They’re destroying families, jobs.”

Suarez Reyes was arrested by ICE agents in plainclothes at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on July 24 while the couple was traveling to Las Vegas for a furniture industry convention.

“After leaving the United room, eight officers, ICE agents, swarmed Yasmin and detained her. (They) didn’t tell us why and wrestled her off into a car,” he told CBS.

Anne Kennedy, Suarez Reyes’ immigration attorney, said her client was arrested despite having no criminal record, entering the U.S. legally and having a pending immigration case.

In October 2023, Suarez Reyes entered the U.S. legally under the Visa Waiver Program. She is also a Spanish citizen, and Spain is one of the more than 40 countries whose citizens are eligible to travel to the U.S. as tourists or temporary travelers under the visa-free arrangement.

The program allows for stays of up to 90 days. Suarez Reyes applied for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in January 2024, before that timeframe lapsed, documents show, according to CBS.

Suarez Reyes’ asylum case is pending. Her lawyer also noted that she was given a work permit and a Texas driver’s license in the meantime.

Gannon said he would ask Trump, “What are you doing?” if he were given the chance to speak to him. “Go after the criminals. We’re all for that. But leave the mom and pops and the kids alone. Man, he’s destroying families,” he added.

Though he promised to target the ‘worst of the worst’ on the campaign trail, the Trump administration has ordered immigration agents to apprehend nonviolent criminals and even legal permanent residents to meet daily quotas.

In response to the backlash, the White House has argued that anyone in the country illegally is a criminal.