The Keating family backed Trump's pledge to deport criminals. Now a policy change could push Anyi Hernandez-Escobar out of Texas and nearly 2,000 miles from her Houston home. Anyi Hernandez-Escobar came to the United States from Honduras in 2018, married into a conservative Bellaire family, and voted for Donald Trump alongside her in-laws. The Houston Chronicle reported that, within weeks, she, her husband Patrick Keating and their 16-month-old toddler Emma could find themselves nearly 2,000 miles from their Houston home in Honduras. According to the Houston Chronicle, an agreement between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Department of Justice dissolved a Biden-era policy that allowed immigration judges to close certain cases, including cases like Hernandez-Escobar’s, when an immigrant was applying for legal status. Her family’s story shows how the crackdown can reach people who, in their own words, tried to do everything right. The family that voted for Trump The Chronicle reported that Hernandez-Escobar and the Keatings supported Trump in part because of his pledge to focus deportations on criminals. They said they never expected the policy to touch them directly. Bellaire is a small, affluent city surrounded by Houston, not the kind of place residents associated with work site raids. “Anyi, she’s always tried to do it the right way. Right from the minute she crossed,” her mother-in-law, Ingrid Keating, told the Chronicle. “Immigration has been such a mess for so many years, but of course it’s easy not to pay too much attention when it’s not your immediate family. Now, all of a sudden, it really brings it home.” According to the Chronicle, the sudden turn has left Hernandez-Escobar’s husband and in-laws torn about their political choices as they confront the possibility of separation. How her legal path collapsed The mechanics matter here. Under the previous administration, immigration judges could administratively close certain cases for immigrants pursuing legal status, effectively pausing removal proceedings while an application moved forward. The Paxton-DOJ agreement dissolved that policy, affecting cases such as Hernandez-Escobar’s. Hernandez-Escobar’s case fell into that category. With the policy dissolved, the Chronicle reported that she could face removal to Honduras, a country she left in 2018, while applying for legal status and raising her toddler. Her attorney’s options and the exact timeline of any departure were not detailed in the reporting, and it remains unclear whether any last-minute legal relief is available. She is not the only Trump voter caught in the net The Keatings’ experience fits a broader pattern in the Houston area. John Gannon, a 75-year-old lifelong Republican and Texas businessman, told CBS News in August that he deeply regrets his vote after his Venezuelan fiancée, Yasmin Suarez Reyes, was arrested by ICE agents at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport as the couple prepared to fly to a furniture convention. “They are picking up law-abiding citizens. They’re destroying families, jobs,” Gannon said. “Go after the criminals. We’re all for that. But leave the mom and pops and the kids alone.” In a separate case that drew national attention, Alim Garipov, a rising senior at Bellaire High School from Russia, was detained by ICE in July as he boarded a plane at Hobby Airport for college tours. His congresswoman, Democrat Lizzie Fletcher, and his attorney argued he was in the country legally with a pending asylum claim. ICE said he had overstayed a six-month visa window and that pending applications do not confer legal status. He was released three days later into an alternatives-to-detention program. Why the crackdown reaches beyond raids The Chronicle’s reporting makes a point that cuts against a common assumption: the enforcement net is not confined to Latino neighborhoods or workplace raids. Policy changes on paper, like the end of case closures, can upend lives without a single agent showing up at a door. Houston has also seen the sharper edge of enforcement. NPR reported in July that neighbors in Magnolia Park were seeing more ICE agents before a fatal encounter in which agents shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican construction worker and father of three, during a traffic stop. DHS said he tried to use his van as a weapon and that agents were not wearing body cameras; the agency has not released video to support its account. Supporters of the crackdown argue the administration is simply enforcing laws that were ignored for years, and that detention and removal are the legally available tools regardless of a person’s sympathetic circumstances. ICE has maintained that pending applications do not shield anyone from arrest. Fletcher has called the policies unfair and unjust, saying immigrant families in the community and across the country are facing uncertainty and separation. What happens next for the Keatings For now, the family is preparing for a future they did not expect: a possible move to Honduras with their toddler, far from Patrick’s extended family in Texas. Whether Hernandez-Escobar can secure any form of relief before her case advances is the central unanswered question. The broader question is political. Stories like this one are forcing some voters who backed Trump on the promise of targeting criminals to weigh whether the reality matches the pledge. For the Keatings, the prospect is personal: a possible move to Honduras with their 16-month-old child, nearly 2,000 miles from their Houston home and extended family.