JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Wednesday, Brandon Garrison from Hollywood, Florida, held up signs with supporters in Downtown Jacksonville near the federal courthouse. He demanded his wife Gabriela Sousa, 25, be released from a Baker County facility.
The story, first reported by CBS News Miami, begins three years ago. Sousa entered the United States legally in April 2023 under a federal humanitarian parole program for Venezuelans.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
The program allowed her to live and work in the U.S. for two years, with her authorization set to expire on April 19, 2025. According to CBS News Miami, the couple married just 2 days before her authorization expired.
Six months after the pair got married, they were both arrested by Hollywood police after a domestic dispute which Garrison called a misunderstanding. That battery case is now closed.
Garrison said Sousa sat in the Broward County jail for a month and was handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She moved between several facilities, eventually ending up near Jacksonville in Baker County.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
“We were under the impression that once you get married, that starts the process, and then you’re no longer illegal,” Garrison said.
Sousa would have to voluntarily leave the country by April 19 or face a 10-year ban. Leaving voluntarily would be a 3-year ban. That all depends if ICE releases her by April 19. If the judge grants her habeas, she would once again be here legally until the entire immigration matter gets sorted out.
Garrion said he would leave the country with her, hoping to go to Columbia. He fears political imprisonment in Venezuela, given tensions with the U.S. after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
The Department of Homeland Security released this statement to Action News Jax:
“Gabriela Alejandra Lozano Sousa, a criminal illegal alien with a previous arrest for domestic abuse entered the United States on April 21, 2023, under the Biden Administration’s disastrous CHNV program. This program never conferred legal status – Sousa has always been in the United States illegally. ICE arrested her on October 15, 2025, and she will remain in ICE detention pending her immigration proceedings.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, DHS ended abuse of humanitarian parole authority. The Biden administration allowed more than half a million very poorly vetted aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela enter the United States through this political scheme, masquerading as legitimate parole programs. They granted these individuals, many of whom were criminals, gang members and even terrorists, opportunities to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers, forced career civil servants to promote the programs even when fraud was identified, and then blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that followed.”
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
