Woman Arrested by ICE After Overstaying Her Visa for 10 Years

This is the identification that you presented.

Okay, that's the wrong one. What do you mean? What does it mean the wrong one?

This woman was stopped at a Florida airport after trying to board a flight using a fake ID. But what deputies didn't realize yet was that she had overstayed her visa by more than 10 years. And her husband had too.

So why is that ID wrong?

I don't know. Maybe it's because it's the one that was in my purse. I have all of my stuff in my purse. If you go in my purse, you'll see it.

What is wrong with me?

I have two of my IDs.

Okay, but this isn't a real ID. Why do you have this?

I always have been in my purse.

Okay, why?

I always have been in your possession.

That's not... Well, I didn't know that. That's only for...

You didn't know you couldn't have a fake ID?

I didn't even know it was fake.

How do you not know it was fake?

Because someone said they could get ID. I didn't even know it was a fake ID. Once my ID have all my information, someone told me that they all I need to do is to go to this Thai place and then the Thai gate place What gate? You don't go to some place to get your ID, you go to a DMV to get your driver's license Okay, this place is like a DMV because I have two. The one I went to, what I did was I gave them my passport and they gave me an ID. That's my ID. But then this one right here is when I came I don't know who it was but they said that you could always get transfer your stuff to your ID just give me my information so I transfer my stuff I did the same thing that I transfer my ID from the DMV place to them. With them?

Yeah. But you only get your driver's license.

No, you don't. If you go to my person you'll see it and if you go in the system and call them, you'll see they give you ID. Call who?

Who's them?

It's called a Thai agency place, but they give you ID. They give you an international ID.

All you do is transfer your passport over.

Same name?

That's me.

Yeah, I'm going to have her socialize with that.

What's your real license?

Where's your real license at? I have my license and my purse, but that's the same name. Okay, is it from Florida? No, it's from here. This is Florida.

This is Florida.

Well, I don't know it's from here.

Okay, because we ran your name too, and your name doesn't exist either in our system.

My name is, my name is Estee Ellis Charles Smith. If you see, I use two names. Why?

Because of my grandmother. Just moments before deputies arrived, the woman had phoned her husband, who dropped her off at the airport and was now rushing back to the scene. But deputies were about to find out, just like his wife, the husband's visa had been expired for more than a decade.

And how is it a fake ID if that's me? How is it a fake ID if that's me and that's my information? You could even go on my son, that's everything, that's me. Even my bank account, that's me. How is it a fake ID?

It's a fake ID because it's not real. It was not issued by the state of Florida. The DL number does not exist. And when we run your name and information, that's provided by me, you also gave it to me. No, I didn't. You did not get it from the state of Florida, thus you can't possess it. It is illegal to possess a license that is not a license.

I didn't know that.

How did you not know?

Did you get it from the state of Florida?

I get it from somebody who said all I need to do, they said they can go to the place and they can turn over my stuff. I didn't know that because that's what get customs to assist us. They can?

Yes, well they can pay for it. Have you seen the ID yet?

I see the ID down there, but the ID looks fake.

Is it a Florida ID? It's a Florida ID.

Obviously fake.

I don't run the, she run it on me.

I mean, does it look fake? Does it look fake?

It looks fake. Where was she from? New Orleans.

Sir.

Can we go over here?

Go over here.

I was calling your phone, man.

You're just going to have to wait for it.

Is she a friend of yours?

My wife.

She's your wife?

Yeah.

What's going on?

She's being detained right now. Why?

Because of her identifications.

What's wrong with her identifications?

Doesn't seem right. You know where she's traveling to today by chance?

Yeah, she's going to New Jersey. To New Jersey?

Yeah, she has a company and one of her friends is a flight attendant called Leo. They're supposed to be there for four hours and come right back. Her friend doesn't want to be alone, so she asked me to come along with her.

A flight attendant asked you to come with her?

She's been calling me now, trying to figure out what's going on. She lands in about 47 minutes in Pittsburgh, and we're flying off here right now.

Who's she, a flight attendant in spirit?

I can ask her. You better let them know so they don't put your bag on the plane. She's probably already gone. How's she gonna get the bag back? I don't know.

Probably have to have it sent back. Huh? Probably have to have it sent back. Her flight's at 8 o'clock. Yeah, her flight's at 8 o'clock.

All of her passport, everything is in her bag.

It's not gonna be able to be removed off the flight.

Are you here for us? I believe so.

Do you want to fill them in?

Something about a Bahamian passport.

No, not necessarily. Just go around, Captain.

Here?

Yeah, yeah, just go right through here.

Just lift that up.

What's your name, sir?

James.

Have you taken a driver's test?

Yeah, I took a driver's test. I even have a driver's thing in the Bahamas.

Not over here, in this, in the state.

No, all I did was give them my information from that, and then I changed it over from my driver's license.

You give them your information and you change it over. But over here, you know you're supposed to take a driving test. It doesn't matter if you're driving the country or wherever.

You're supposed to take a driving test.

I thought you just give them your driver's license

and they change it over.

That's not how it works.

I never knew that.

In Florida, and in every U.S. state, completing at least one U.S. driver's test is a basic requirement for a valid driver's license. There's no workaround. Her admission that she did not take any tests effectively confirmed what deputies already believed. The driver's license she presented was not lawfully issued.

Now it was only a matter of time until immigration would arrive on scene.

We just called the bank,

the bank placed an issue.

Oh, did you?

We did.

So, we, uh, we, uh, we, uh, I was hoping they could fingerprint but because it's not an international flight type issue,

they technically can't.

And then the only other thing we could do is ice, is contact ice, because he had a bailout on his phone.

The deputies now escorted the woman into a private room, where a female deputy began questioning her about how she got the fake ID. And if her explanation didn't start making sense fast, she was gonna be turned over to ICE, who were already working the airport and looking for her.

The place where you go for help, they say I could use a TIN number, there's ways to get around things, and that's issued to me by me. Okay. So that's why it's me. I issued myself as a business,

and that's how I obtained it so I can use it as a social because that's the law Okay, right. It's not I did everything by the law. That's why I get what I get Nothing is fake. Nothing is the only thing I did not know was that the place I issued the last time which was with the I gave y'all is not real. I never knew that. And the other issue place that doesn't want to answer, I didn't know that either because they say they issue IDs.

Okay, so before I even ask you questions, I have to read you your rights, right? Since you know how it works, right?

Since you've been here.

So I'm gonna read you and when you hear the question, you just say yes, I understand or no. All right. So you have the right to remain silent and to refuse to answer questions. What's your birth name? I don't know. I don't know which one was it.

I'm just finding out when I was 30 when I went to go and get my passport renewed because someone broke into the car and took the passport. So they didn't just take the passport, they took my whole purse.

What kind of passport do you have?

It was a Bahamian passport. Why don't you have an American citizen passport? I'm not an American citizen. I was born over here.

Okay.

So you have to born over here to get that passport.

So usually when you don't have a citizenship, it'll say it on your driver's license?

Yeah, I didn't know that.

Well, do you want to know what that tells me?

That this is fake. thing was clear. The suspect's story wasn't ad nap. If she kept doubling down on the same unconvincing excuses and lies, she was going to be handed over to ICE, who would be more than happy to take custody of her.

So where did you get this? I got that from the same type of place that this dude. What type of place? There was a guy standing out there, out of the side of the place, and asked me. Did you go into a Legitimate business I went into a business for the other one

Well, then what's the same business the other I get told you have to go and look for it's in my back It might it's in my phone eyes in my purse Okay, so when y'all see y'all get it, but this is not real, but it is this was not real It is issued I the same thing this I did the same thing to get that I know I'm asking a question about this This is not real. No, I how do you know this is not real because y'all told me it wasn't real Where I saw you know, it was a real it's an ID. They say any form of ID. This is not ID

This is a driver's license

So the guy that I met outside of the place told me that this the one I have would work But then I still gonna need a IV, a Florida State IV. They say you can give me the... All I need to do is do the same thing I did today and give me my passport information, and then pay them money, and then they're gonna bring me one. I got a question.

The same thing.

Is this a real driver's license?

Yes, it's a real driver's license. How do you know? It looks the same. It looks the same? Why are you telling me that this is not real? Because I told you it was real. But if you know that it's real, you'd be defending that.

You'd be like, oh no, that's a real driver's license.

I will defend to the end of time.

I believe anything the police say.

I will defend to the end of time that this is a real driver's license. But I'm not gonna lie. So if I tell you right now, then I wouldn't believe you. But if you're a jeweler, I'm gonna believe you. How do you know what I know? Because you're a jeweler. Exactly. You went to school for it.

But how do you know if I'm not a jeweler on the side?

So anyone, anyone tells you, you're gonna believe. Because they believe.

Doesn't matter.

It does matter. It doesn't matter. Because it does. If you knew that you went the proper way to receive a driver's license and you paid the money for it You should stand with your your gun doing on system. This is I don't know anything about America like that So if I don't even tell you that I've been here from I was 22 I think 14 14 years. How did you get here? I got here on the plane. So you flew from

The Bahamas, okay, So you've been here 14 years. And the person you're traveling with is who? My daughter. Oh, really? Now? Where's your daughter? The person who I travel with over here. Who's your daughter? I'm asking you which question are you asking the person I travel with over here? You're not running this interview. am that's your daughter you asked me a question okay and you brought up something that wasn't talked about yeah I traveled with my game so I said my daughter okay so you traveled with her yes okay child is that I can actually question why are you being

repulsive I'm not I'm questioning I'm asking I know I'm being respectful and I haven't been disrespectful I'm not being know I'm being respectful and I haven't been disrespectful. I haven't been rude. I'm asking you questions. It was a little bit. I'm not being mean, but I only thought you asked me who I traveled with. I don't really understand when you say things just like that.

It has to be specific. That's why I asked. So the man that's here is who? It's her father. That's her dad.

Yeah.

Where did you meet him? In the Bahamas. Okay.

I was 17.

Gotcha. Apparently, she'd been in the United States for about 14 years, and records suggest her visa had been expired for more than a decade. Still, she doubled down, claiming she had come to the U.S. with her two-year-old daughter to join her husband, who had gotten his visa first and somehow obtained a tax ID she'd been using for money transactions ever since.

But when she realized she wasn't convincing anyone that the ID was real, she switched tactics and started blaming law enforcement.

Having this is a big problem.

I didn't know that.

I know.

I did not. The only reason I know that is because they looked it up and said he's not coming up. But I said that's impossible. Okay. And then when they looked up the other one. This is fake, right? And with all the things going on, this is a big problem. I didn't know it was fake. Very big problem. And then you don't have citizenship here, right? No, the other one is the same thing. That means that one is fake too. I don't understand how y'all allow people to be open with tag agency doing all this and then it's fake Allow you I didn't allow anybody no not you but the government

It's government issue they have it on their information on their online saying that they give everything okay So what's the other thing that you said that's fake? They said the other one is fake. What is it? it's a, um.

I mean, it's a, that's a, that's a, um.

It's the same thing. It's a, I, no, it's issued from here.

I don't know if it's fake or not.

OK.

No, it's fake too. So I'm like, hold on if this is fake that is also fake Because I did the same thing. Okay. I Literally went and looked up places that I can get around things They said there's laws around everything and I just have to do it legitimately and that's what I did I never knew that. In the Bahamas they don't have like an American Embassy. That's the proper way to go from one country to the other. You have to apply in the American Embassy. I know. When I came over here and I was in the...

When I went to the Embassy, I have an Embassy thing. I came over the right way. I came over through an airplane. I didn't come on a boat. I didn't get smuggled in. Even if you're not... If you don't go to the American Embassy, you could still fly You could still come in. Yeah, I know in my passport you will see in the system that I have an American Visa I came over with my visa How long was it for? I don't know. The only thing is when I came over. That's very important because when you're given the visa They tell you how long they'll say two months six months one year two years. Oh, they don't tell you, they tell you how long. They'll say two months, six months, one year, two years.

Oh, they don't tell you that. They tell you on your passport. They stamp it or something. Well, you don't have a passport.

You have the Bahamian one.

Yeah, they tell you on the passport.

After more than 30 minutes of the same excuses, deputies had had enough and decided it was time to bring in the feds. The moment she heard him mention ICE, her whole demeanor changed because she knew what it meant.

You guys have the ICE is coming down?

Yes.

Okay.

That's the one over here at Hollywood?

Yes. Alright.

Excuse me, I've been at ICE before. I've done ICE before.

I'm sorry?

I've done ICE before.

I can't go back home.

That's not our decision though.

I still think that's going to cause me to be on a lot. I already explained that to you. That's not the reason why I came with my daughter.

The woman was handed over to ICE that day. At the last reported update, she remained in custody after every motion she filed in court seeking release was dismissed. Her husband never became the subject of the criminal investigation on scene.

It was only later, after records were checked through immigration databases, that authorities learned the truth. His visa had also been expired for more than a decade. There's no public confirmation of deportation yet, There's no public confirmation of deportation yet,

but follow my channel for any updates on this case.