Longtime undocumented New Jersey resident recounts May arrest and calls for citizenship path

During a recent event, Margarita Cielo Balbuena recounted a May 23 encounter with immigration agents in Dover, New Jersey, in which the officers blocked her vehicle, deployed pepper spray, and dragged her husband from the truck despite his recent back surgery. She reported that her adult son, a U.S. citizen, asked to see a judicial warrant but was ignored. Following the arrest, Balbuena and her husband were held for two months at the Elizabeth Detention Center, where she described spoiled food and difficult conditions.

Balbuena, who arrived in the United States in 1989 and does not speak English, is a homeowner and restaurant owner. She used the platform to demand a pathway to citizenship for undocumented individuals who have lived in the country for at least seven years. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson later characterized the couple as criminal illegal aliens with prior convictions and said they would receive full due process before an immigration judge.