Most people walking into a green card interview believe the hardest part is already behind them. The I-130 petition was approved, the relationship is genuine, and the record is clean. For years, that combination made the interview feel like a formality. That assumption isn’t safe anymore at the San Diego USCIS Field Office.
Since November 12, 2025, ICE agents have been detaining visa-overstay applicants immediately after their interviews at the San Diego field office. A pattern confirmed by local attorneys and reported by CBS 8 News San Diego and NBC 7 San Diego. The people detained weren’t criminals. They were spouses and immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, exactly the category that overstay forgiveness has historically protected. Understanding why that protection didn’t stop the arrests, and what you can do before your interview date, is what this post covers.
At San Diego Immigration Law Office, our bilingual team works directly with clients preparing for green card interviews in San Diego. We’ve watched the enforcement environment shift, and we’ve seen what preparation actually changes.
What Happens at Your Interview at the San Diego Field Office
The San Diego USCIS Field Office is located at 1325 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92101. This is where Form I-485 Adjustment of Status interviews for this region are conducted. Your appointment notice controls the date, time, and who must appear. USCIS field offices operate on scheduled appointments only.
During the interview, the officer reviews your I-485 and the underlying Form I-130 petition together. They check identity documents, confirm biometrics already on file, and evaluate whether you’re eligible to become a lawful permanent resident. For marriage-based cases, the officer is also assessing whether the relationship is bona fide (real and not entered solely to obtain immigration status). The interview can be brief if everything aligns, or it can stretch into extended questioning if something in the file raises concerns.
ICE Enforcement at the San Diego Field Office: What Changed & Why It Matters
The detentions that began on November 12, 2025 represent a clear departure from long-standing practice at this field office. ICE agents waited for overstay applicants to complete their interviews, then detained them before they could leave the building. Applicants were processed at the downtown federal building and transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center, where they could later request a bond hearing.
The legal reason this was possible is worth understanding. Under INA Section 245(c), the adjustment bars that would otherwise block applicants who overstayed their visas don’t apply to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, a protection commonly known as overstay forgiveness. That provision addresses eligibility for a green card. It doesn’t suspend ICE’s civil arrest authority. Someone can be legally eligible to adjust status and simultaneously subject to civil immigration enforcement for the underlying overstay. The San Diego detentions demonstrated that distinction in a way that caught many applicants and attorneys off guard.
The profile of those detained made the pattern especially alarming: spouses of U.S. citizens, no criminal history, no prior removal orders in most reported cases. If you have an overstay in your history and an interview scheduled at the San Diego field office, treating it as a minor background detail rather than an active risk factor isn’t a sound approach right now.
Red Flags That Still Trigger Extra Scrutiny
The ICE enforcement pattern is the most urgent risk specific to San Diego, but USCIS officers also continue to scrutinize the green card application itself for the markers that have always drawn heightened review.
Inconsistent Answers Between Spouses
When a couple’s answers diverge on details like where they first met, when they moved in together, or what their daily routines look like, officers can request a Stokes interview. Named after the 1975 federal court case Stokes v. INS, a Stokes interview separates the spouses into different rooms and asks each the same set of questions about their shared life. The answers are then compared for consistency. Inconsistency in routine details, even minor ones, is enough to trigger it.
Thin Documentation of a Shared Life
A marriage certificate proves a marriage happened. It doesn’t prove the couple actually lives together, shares finances, or has built a life. Officers look for evidence of commingled assets: a joint bank account with real transaction history, a shared lease or mortgage, insurance policies listing both spouses, photos from multiple points in the relationship, and correspondence that shows the couple communicating the way couples do. A file without that documentation invites a Request for Evidence (an official USCIS letter asking for additional proof before the case can proceed) or, in worse cases, a denial based on insufficient evidence of a bona fide marriage.
Undisclosed Immigration History
Applicants sometimes omit prior arrests, old immigration violations, or a previous removal order because they believe the issue was resolved or too old to matter. Officers can frequently see records the applicant assumed were gone. Discovering an undisclosed issue during the interview damages credibility in a way that the underlying incident itself might not have. The officer’s question is no longer just “did this happen” but “why didn’t you disclose it.”
Steps That Can Reduce Your Risk Before Interview Day
The enforcement environment in San Diego has changed, but the response isn’t to skip the interview. Failing to appear for a scheduled USCIS interview can result in the case being denied for abandonment, closing the path to a green card without any hearing or appeal on the merits. The following steps can genuinely reduce risk when taken before the interview date:
- Have any overstay, prior removal order, or immigration history complication reviewed by an attorney before the interview. This is the step most applicants delay, and it’s the one that matters most given the current enforcement pattern at the San Diego field office.
- Bring an attorney to the interview. Attending with legal representation is a right under USCIS rules. An attorney present during the interview creates a contemporaneous record of how the interview was conducted and can intervene if questioning moves into legally problematic territory.
- Build a complete, organized evidence file before the date. A joint bank account opened the week before the interview doesn’t carry the same weight as one showing two years of shared transactions. Starting that documentation process early matters.
- Prepare both spouses on the details of their shared life. Not to memorize scripted answers, but to actually discuss their history together so neither is caught off guard by questions about routine details they’ve stopped thinking about consciously.
If you have a green card interview scheduled at the San Diego field office, or someone in your family does, our team at San Diego Immigration Law Office can review the specifics of your case before that date. Call us at (619) 473-2506 to talk through where you stand.