Trump-backing family stunned as mother faces deportation

The family of a Canadian woman who supported Donald Trump's plans for mass deportations of immigrants say they are feeling betrayed after federal agents recently detained her in California while she was being interviewed for permanent US residency and began working to expel her from the country.

- Ramon Antonio Vargas

"We feel totally blindsided," Cynthia Olivera's husband, Francisco Olivera - an American citizen and self-identified Trump voter - told the California news station KGTV. "I want my vote back."

Cynthia Olivera, 45, who has three US-born children, is among a growing list of people whose cases contradict the Trump administration's claims that the immigration crackdown it has spearheaded since the president's return to the Oval Office in January has prioritized targeting dangerous criminals.

Being in the US without legal status is generally a civil infraction rather than a criminal violation.

Nonetheless, despite its claim that the immigration crackdown is mainly meant to rid the US of violent criminals, the White House has maintained that anyone in the US who lacks legal status is a criminal subject to deportation.