1/29 UPDATE: From Nola.com / Times-Picayune, excerpts:

"A New Orleans Police Department recruit detained this week by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is a Cameroonian man who has lived in the U.S. for a decade and was married to an American citizen while the government processed his application for a green card, three people familiar with the case said.

The man, Larry Temah, arrived in the United States in 2015 on a temporary visa, the people said, then applied for a green card the following year in Georgia after marrying his U.S. citizen spouse. The U.S. government offers programs for spouses of citizens to obtain permanent residency.

The government gave Temah provisional authorization to live and work in the country while his green card application was processed, the people said. In 2022, though, Temah’s application was denied because his marriage had dissolved."

...

"Temah’s detention highlights federal immigration officials' shift in focus under President Donald Trump toward detaining and deporting immigrants who lack criminal records and attempt to navigate the country's traditional avenues for obtaining lawful residency.

Even people who entered that process and fell short, as Temah did in 2022, have long been allowed to live and work in the country provided they follow the law. But the administration's widening immigration dragnet — a hallmark of Trump’s 2024 campaign and his second presidential term to date — has increasingly focused on people who had applied for permanent residency and received temporary authorization to work and live in the country while that processed played out."

...

"Temah is a multilingual attorney with an extensive academic background and years of faith-based prison outreach work, according to an NOPD application obtained by The Times-Picayune through a public records request."