Argentine Acrobats Detained by ICE in Arizona Following Travel to Phoenix Airport

Two Argentine acrobats living in Florida were taken into custody by immigration authorities on November 7 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona, infobae.com reported.

Gustavo Romanello, 34, and Agustín Baccega, 42, were headed to a friend’s funeral when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained them.

The arrests interrupted lives the two artists had built in the United States since arriving from Córdoba in 2020. Romanello worked directly for Universal Orlando, while Baccega contracted with an outside firm and also worked as a financial specialist for the Orlando airport authority.

Family members said that both men entered the country legally and held valid work permits while awaiting decisions on their immigration paperwork. ICE confirmed their legal entry but maintained that the two men had stayed past their authorized periods.

The federal agency said that holding a work permit does not equate to holding a regular immigration status or prevent someone from facing deportation proceedings. The distinction left both artists vulnerable despite their established employment in Florida’s entertainment sector.

Following the airport stop, authorities split the two men into separate detention facilities across Arizona. Baccega was placed in the Eloy Federal Contract Facility, while Romanello went to the Florence Service Processing Center.

Samuel Sketers, the lawyer representing both artists, criticized the enforcement actions in an interview with Spectrum Noticias Florida, pointing out that officials transferred their files to immigration court without conducting a preliminary interview. “They arrested them and put them in the jail. It’s a very big violation,” Sketers said.

Romanello already has a scheduled court date before the immigration justice system, while Baccega awaits a hearing date. Their relatives in Argentina described the situation from a distance as agonizing and desperate.

“The truth is the situation is terrible, tremendously agonizing, desperate,” Mónica Benseny, Baccega’s mother, told Spectrum Noticias Florida. Liliana Soria, Romanello’s mother, told Telemundo that she struggles with not knowing where or under what conditions her son is being held.