A Wisconsin state trooper detained by immigration agents at a Madison airport on Thursday was released from jail on Friday under an order of supervision, his attorney said. His removal case is still open, and he will have to make his case before an immigration judge.
Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, 21, was stopped by ICE agents on Nov. 5 at Dane County Regional Airport, just after he went through security. He was waiting to board a flight to visit his parents in New Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security said the arrest was a targeted enforcement operation. He was taken to the Dodge County Detention Facility in Juneau.
The department said Van Der Merwe entered the United States in March 2019 with permission to stay until September 2019 and stayed past that date. “In defiance of our nation’s laws, he overstayed his admission,” a DHS spokesperson said. “This illegal alien will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. To be clear: work authorization or a pending application do not confer legal status in the U.S.” The spokesperson added that the administration is working so that people in the country illegally “can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”
His attorney, Marc Christopher of the Christopher & De Leon Law Office, said the family came to the United States legally from South Africa when Van Der Merwe was 14 and applied for asylum in 2019. The family is still waiting for an asylum interview, and Van Der Merwe is listed on his father’s application. He holds federal work authorization that runs to 2030, the firm said. According to the firm’s statement, he told the agents about his permit and his pending case, and the officers “said they did not care, placed him in handcuffs and shackles, and transported him to immigration detention.”
Christopher called the arrest “inhumane and despicable.” “Putting a Wisconsin State Trooper behind bars while his asylum case sits unresolved does not make our communities safer,” he said. “Wisconsin trusts Carel to protect the public.” He said the family fears being jailed or tortured if they are returned to South Africa.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation said Van Der Merwe has worked for the State Patrol since July 13, 2025. He lives in Onalaska and works out of Tomah. He has no criminal record, Fox 9 reported.
On Friday, Christopher confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Van Der Merwe had been released from the Dodge County jail under an order of supervision. The order requires him to check in with ICE, and he will likely be monitored electronically, possibly through an app on his phone rather than an ankle bracelet, the attorney said. His supervisor was coming to pick him up. Local television reports said Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican whose district includes the Tomah area, contacted the Department of Homeland Security about the detention.
The release does not end the case. Van Der Merwe still faces removal proceedings, and the asylum claim his family filed in 2019 is still waiting for a decision.
