A Lawrence woman is making national headlines after being detained for 30 hours by U.S. custom officers after admitting that she had voted in a Lawrence city commission and school board election despite not being a U.S. citizen.

An investigation by the nonprofit news site Propublica highlighted the woman’s case, and said her detention marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to find non-citizens who have voted in U.S. elections.

Propublica said the case is noteworthy because it shows that U.S. custom agents at the Detroit airport had access to the woman’s voting record. A transcript of the interview conducted by customs officers in Detroit shows that they specifically asked the woman whether she had voted in the Nov. 7, 2023 local elections in Lawrence. The woman – Propublica only identified as Estelle – said that she had voted in that election, saying that a driver’s license clerk had told her she was eligible to vote in the local election when she had recently renewed her license with the state.

It wasn’t immediately clear how custom officers at the Detroit airport became aware of Estelle’s voting record, but Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew told Propublica that he received an administrative subpoena from U.S. Customs and Border Protection on March 23 asking for the woman’s voter registration application and voting records.

Estelle was in the Detroit airport during a layover on a return trip from her native France, where she had been visiting her sick father, Propublica reported. She was detained by customs officials for 30 hours, including an overnight stay in a detention cell at the airport. After more than 30 hours in custody, she was released, Propublica reported.

The federal government started deportation proceeding against the woman, but an immigration judge canceled her removal proceedings after her attorney spoke with the Department of Homeland Security about her case.

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