A 21-year-old Wisconsin State Patrol trooper was detained by federal immigration officers at Dane County Regional Airport on Thursday as he prepared to board a domestic flight to New Mexico. Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe now sits in an immigration detention center in Dodge County, Wisconsin, while his attorney scrambles to secure his release and federal officials say he will face removal proceedings.
Van Der Merwe was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the airport, according to WISN 12 News, which first reported the arrest after learning of it from his attorney, Marc Christopher. The Department of Homeland Security described the action as a targeted operation, part of what it called a broader effort to prevent immigrants without legal status from flying domestically, according to Wisconsin Watch.
Van Der Merwe told reporters that officers handcuffed and shackled him and transported him to immigration detention in Dodge County, according to WISN 12 News. A separate account from WEAU reports that when he raised concerns during the encounter, the officers said they did not care before placing him in handcuffs and shackles. He is now being held at the Dodge County Detention Center in Juneau while he awaits a hearing in his immigration case, the same Wisconsin Watch report notes.
A Trooper's Path From South Africa to the Wisconsin State Patrol
According to his attorney, Van Der Merwe came to the United States from South Africa legally as a child. DHS, for its part, says he entered the country in March 2019 with legal permission to stay until September 2019 and subsequently overstayed his admission, per the same Wisconsin Watch account. Christopher said his client is included on his father's pending asylum application and holds federal work authorization bearing an expiration date in 2030, a detail corroborated separately by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Accounts of how long Van Der Merwe has been waiting for an asylum interview differ: WISN 12 News and ABC News both report his attorney saying it has been seven years, while Wisconsin Watch reports the attorney describing the wait as half a decade. Those discrepancies have not been independently resolved.
Van Der Merwe graduated from New Mexico Military Institute with a criminal justice degree and became a Wisconsin state trooper about a year before this reporting, in 2025, per WISN 12 News. He has been employed with State Patrol since July 13, 2025, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. He lives in Onalaska and works out of the Tomah post, and according to his attorney, he wanted to serve the United States but chose law enforcement because his pending immigration status prevented him from pursuing military service.
Attorney Pushes for Bond, Questions Agency Silence
Christopher is seeking Van Der Merwe's release on bond, a process he told Wisconsin Public Radio could take a few weeks; WISN 12 News separately reported the process is likely to take about two weeks. Christopher is also calling on DHS to support Van Der Merwe's immediate release and is urging Wisconsin's congressional delegation to scrutinize the detention decision, according to WISN 12 News. “ICE says it is going after people who break the law. Here, it has detained someone whose job is to uphold it,” Christopher said, per that report.
Christopher also said the Wisconsin State Patrol allows noncitizens with valid work permits to serve as troopers, WISN 12 News reports. DHS, however, said that work authorization does not confer legal status in the United States, according to the same report, and separately told Wisconsin Watch that Van Der Merwe will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Federal immigration law gives ICE authority to detain certain noncitizens without bond pending formal removal proceedings under Section 236(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to a Congressional Research Service overview, though that summary does not establish whether Van Der Merwe falls under that provision. Separately, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance notes that approval of a work-authorization application does not itself grant immigration status; it only provides authorization to work, according to the USCIS Policy Manual. Neither detail resolves Van Der Merwe's individual case.
Agencies Decline to Clarify Key Details
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation said it is aware of Van Der Merwe's arrest, but an agency spokesperson did not clarify whether he is on paid leave while in custody, Wisconsin Watch reports. DHS did not address questions from WMTV about whether officers were aware of Van Der Merwe's employment as a state trooper at the time of the detention. The Wisconsin State Patrol has not responded to WISN 12 News questions about the case, and WISN 12 News says it is working to clarify the differing accounts given by DHS and Christopher.
The case lands amid a strained national immigration court system. A Congressional Research Service excerpt notes that the high volume of asylum applications filed relative to immigration courts' adjudicatory capacity has contributed to a large pending caseload, part of a broader backlog of removal proceedings estimated at approximately 3.8 million cases nationwide. For now, Van Der Merwe remains in custody in Dodge County as his attorney presses for his release and answers from federal officials.
