SALT LAKE CITY — The woman caught on video being detained by ICE agents at Salt Lake City International Airport this week is legally allowed to be in the United States and has the paperwork to prove it, her attorney claimed.
"When you hear her yelling and screaming, I have papers, I'm here legally, she wasn't lying. She was actually saying exactly what she thought she was," said immigration attorney Adam Crayk.
Video of Marta Leiva being taken into custody in the airport's baggage claim area has gone viral, with ICE claiming the 39-year-old was undocumented from El Salvador and plans to deport her back to the country.
Arrests like ICE detainment in airport spark fear among many in Utah:
Leiva was ordered by a judge to be deported in 2020 after not appearing in court for her immigration hearing. However, Crayk says U.S. agencies allowed Leiva to remain in the country.
"The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the very entity that refers her to court, keeps issuing her a work permit," Crayk explained. "In fact, in 2024, she just got reissued a work permit. So at the airport, she's walking around with a valid work permit, which tells you that you're walking around just fine."
FOX 13 News was shown a copy of that work permit by Crayk, with an employment authorization approval letter that says valid until 2029.
"She's legally and lawfully allowed to work in the United States." Crayk insisted.
Video below shows airport arrest of Marta Leiva (Shannon Hale):
According to her attorney, Laiva is a single mom of 4 children, all U.S. citizens. She applied for asylum in 2019, and the work permit was the right step in her path to becoming a permanent resident."
"There is no other document until the time that she would have gone and done her asylum trial," said Crayj
FOX 13 News reached out to ICE for more clarification on Leiva's arrest, but the agency did not reply. Crayk said Leiva has two parking tickets on her record, but nothing else, and he claims she was unaware of the 2020 hearing or the deportation order.
"Candidly, I'm not sure what else she could have done," he said. "Because it was blatantly obvious now, she had no idea. Which is heartbreaking."
