A supporter of President Donald Trump has said she regrets her vote after the father of her child was arrested by federal immigration authorities.
“I voted for Trump. And it cost me immensely,” Sara Baruth wrote in a social media post.
Newsweek has contacted Baruth for comment via direct message.
Why It Matters
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump pledged to conduct the “largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.” Upon his return to office in January, the White House said the federal government considered anyone living in the country illegally to be a criminal. The administration has also moved to revoke the temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration enforcement has sparked fear in migrant communities and prompted numerous legal challenges.
Sara Baruth
What To Know
Baruth, from the Midwest, expressed regret over her political choice in November’s election, saying her vote for Trump resulted in devastating personal consequences.
The father of her eldest child faces deportation amid the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. She did not name her partner in the post.
Baruth recounted a love story that began in high school, blossomed into a family and was now unraveling because of what she described as the rigid, unforgiving nature of immigration enforcement.
“His biggest fault? He wasn’t legal,” she said.
Baruth described her partner as a man who had lived in the U.S. for almost his entire life, arriving before he could walk, never committing a crime and making earnest efforts to secure legal status. He even made trips to Washington, D.C., hired immigration lawyers and did everything the “right way,” she wrote—all to no avail.
According to Baruth, the father of her daughter is being extradited, and the toll on their family has been enormous.
“My oldest child is loosing her father because of Trumps immigration policies,” she wrote.
“Do I feel like I made a mistake? Possibly. Ask me again when I’m not so emotional,” she added.
Baruth said her post wasn’t a plea for sympathy but a call for awareness.
She said it was a stark warning that immigration enforcement did not target only criminals but often ripped apart families who contributed positively to their communities.
“I didn’t post this for sympathy. But yall need to know it’s not just ‘bad’ people with a criminal record being deported. These people are fathers……providers. Head of the household. The enemy wins by destroying the family unit with this policy,” she wrote.
A number of Trump supporters have found themselves affected by the president’s hard-line immigration policies.
Earlier this year, ICE detained the wife of Bradley Bartell, who voted for the president. Camila Muñoz, a Peruvian citizen who overstayed her visa while pursuing permanent residency, has since been released from custody.
Real estate attorney Bachir Atallah, a Trump supporter, and his wife, Jessica Fakhri, were returning from a family trip to Canada when they were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Vermont.
Atallah, who has been a U.S. citizen for 10 years, was detained for hours by CBP.
In the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, ICE reported arresting 66,463 individuals and carrying out 65,682 deportations.
What People Are Saying
Sara Baruth wrote in a social media post: “He was many things but at the top of the list was a superb father. That man would go to the ends of the earth to look for the last pencil if that’s what I told him our daughter needed.”
Jen Garrison Stuber, the advocacy chair at Washington Homeschool Organization, responded in a separate post: “I’m sorry about your husband. He didn’t deserve this. We didn’t deserve this. But you and millions of others voted for this. Trump said he was going to do this. And we tried to tell you to listen to him. And we pleaded with you on behalf of us all.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration is set to continue its strict immigration enforcement policies.
