Following Magaziner’s Advocacy, DHS Releases Wife of Combat Veteran from ICE Detention
WASHINGTON, DC — Today U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) applauded the news that Donna Hughes-Brown, a legal U.S. resident and the wife of U.S. Navy combat veteran Jim Brown of Missouri has been released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. Mrs. Hughes-Brown was immediately released after winning her cancellation of removal hearing on December 18, 2025, ending the deportation proceedings against her.
Last week, Rep. Magaziner invited Jim Brown to attend a House Homeland Security Committee hearing with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. During the hearing, Magaziner questioned Secretary Noem directly about Mrs. Hughes-Brown’s detention and secured a commitment from her to review her case.
“The Trump Administration claimed it would target the ‘worst of the worst,’ but no one understands how false that promise was more than Jim and Donna Brown,” said Magaziner. “Jim Brown served our country in combat, and his family deserved better than months of unnecessary separation. This patriotic couple are now reunited just before Christmas. I will continue fighting this Administration over their unjust detentions and work to reunite more innocent families targeted by Trump’s DHS.”
Mr. Brown is a U.S. Navy and Gulf War combat veteran. His wife, Donna Hughes-Brown, is a grandmother and Blue Star military mother who has lived legally in the United States for 47 years. She was detained in Chicago, and imprisoned for months, after returning from a family visit to her native Ireland due to writing two bad checks totaling no more than $80 combined more than a decade ago.
During the hearing, Magaziner asked Secretary Noem to use her broad discretion as Secretary to review Mrs. Hughes-Brown’s case, underscoring the injustice of detaining veteran families and longtime U.S. residents with deep family and community ties over minor, long-resolved offenses.
