Tears streaming down her face and husband’s documentation in hand, Amanda Smail-Carrizalez recalled Wednesday how the man she married 14 years ago was taken into ICE custody following an April traffic stop in Evans City.

Ignacio Carrizalez, was forcefully removed from his vehicle while driving to work, later taken to Moshannon Valley Processing Center and is now facing an order to be deported, Amanda, of Butler, told those gathered at the Butler County Commissioners meeting.

With her daughter, Dani, age 6, standing nearby, she recalled an interaction at the Evans City Police Department after the arrest. She remembers watching the Evans City officer dial up an ICE agent.

Listening to the call, which was held on speaker phone, she said heard, “I do not want to speak to her. I do not want to know. Give her the number that rings all day.”

Amanda wouldn’t hear from her husband again until 2 a.m. the next day. It was Ignacio, who said he had already been transferred to the detention facility in Clearfield County and would be facing potential deportation. Moshannon Valley has frequently been in the news due to recent deaths and alleged poor conditions and treatment of detainees.

While Amanda said Ignacio has not faced the worst of the treatment reported at Moshannon, she said he is constantly yelled at by guards during calls. Occasionally, he has been pulled away from his calls to help guards translate for other detainees.

The couple is caught in the middle of the fierce debate over immigration enforcement, with advocates and detractors arguing over ICE policy.

Ignacio and Amanda married in 2012 and have been together for 17 years. They bought their house in 2015 and renovated it, choosing Butler to build their life together.

Amanda became a stay-at-home mom following a high-risk pregnancy, and Ignacio became the sole provider for the family. He worked to build houses from the ground up.

While building their life, Ignacio was actively working to attain citizenship.

But the April 28 traffic stop changed their plans. Ignacio faces deportation, causing the family to consider abandoning the life they’ve built in Butler.

Amanda feels her family has done everything the right way, but even her lawyers are recommending they self-deport to Mexico.

On April 28, Ignacio was pulled over on his way to work “on suspicion of an expired registration.” After pulling him over and talking to him, an Evans City police officer handed back Ignacio’s driver’s license, his passport and the car’s registration.

Amanda listened from the phone.

“He then went back to his vehicle and signaled over to Homeland Security, who was just waiting across the parking lot to be called over to the stop,” Amanda said, recalling the incident at the Wednesday commissioners’ meeting.

“When they approached the vehicle, they did not ask my husband to identify himself. They violently put their hands in his vehicle and put hands on him.”

In a video posted earlier this month, Amanda said she recalled hearing, “Somebody’s not coming to help you buddy.”

Then, the call ended.

“There was no warrant. There was no reason. My husband was on his way to work,” she said on Wednesday.

The commissioners — Leslie Osche and Kim Geyer in person, and Kevin Boozel, over a video call — and Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe didn’t interrupt as Amanda spoke for upward of 10 minutes. Thirteen others had conceded their time at the meeting for her to speak.

The only commissioner to speak, following Amanda’s plea, was Osche, who asked about how Amanda was navigating county assistance amid the situation.

The Butler County Sheriff’s office did not assist in this particular arrest, but they have gained attention for being one of a handful of counties in Pennsylvania to agree to assist ICE operations.

Twelve of the office’s deputies completed training required under a 287(g) agreement with ICE in August or September of 2025 and began joining the agency on operations in November.

From November to February, the sheriff’s office helped ICE detain 36 undocumented individuals, according to past reporting.

While there previously haven’t been any reports, on the record, of ICE detaining documented immigrants in Butler County, there have been incidents reported nationally.

“We absolutely feel bad. But at the end of the day, if this situation is what she says, Congress absolutely needs to change the law,” Slupe said. “I think ICE is operating under the current law structure.

“If people don’t like it, they need to get to their congressmen and senators and get the law changed.”

Joe McCombs, chief of the Evans City Police Department, confirmed on Wednesday an officer from his department did in fact conduct the April 28 stop and the Evans City officer wrote up a traffic citation. McCombs said ICE was in the area and pulled into the parking lot across from the routine stop to inquire about it.

After the Evans City police officer wrote the citation, ICE agents detained the man, McCombs told the Eagle. The case, he said, had nothing to do with Evans City.

McCombs also claimed that ICE agents told him the man — Ignacio Carrizalez — was an “undocumented alien.”

Amanda showed Ignacio’s documentation papers to the Eagle after the commissioners’ meeting. She had an I-130 form, a petition used by a permanent resident to establish a qualifying relationship with a noncitizen resident. She also had an I-797 form, an official notice issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to notify applicants about the status of their immigration case.

“Why are they doing things so fast and trying to push out the documented people?” Amanda asked Wednesday about how quickly everything related to the potential deportation was happening. “I have proof. I have it all.

“How does this help Butler?”

June 17 marked day 51 of Ignacio’s ordeal, she said. On June 18, he may learn his fate.

Ignacio was supposed to attend a permanent residency hearing on June 1. His wife said ICE knew about it and would not let him attend. Ignacio now has a hearing June 18 on his status moving forward and whether he’ll be able to stay in the United States.

“Although we have a very strong case, this judge has a 96% deportation rate,” Amanda claimed.

The chaos of family separation has only inflamed every day struggles for the family. As Amanda navigates mental health issues such as severe anxiety, she spoke of struggles navigating the process of applying for county assistance.

“My family has been destroyed. It doesn’t matter the amount of money anyone could try and sue for. It’s not going to help,” Amanda said. “My daughter and I are going to have to go through years of therapy from the trauma this caused.”

Her daughter, six-year-old Dani, meanwhile, frequently wakes up with nightmares. Amanda has had difficulty trying to find adequate therapy for her.

“We are American citizens and I feel like we’re being punished,” Amanda said.

She didn’t want to take this to the media, she said in the recent video, but now, she sees no choice.

Amanda said after the commissioners’ meeting she had reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been in contact with her husband.

Efforts continue to keep Ignacio from being deported, however, the family doesn’t know what comes next.

When Amanda finished speaking Wednesday, she turned to her daughter, offering the girl a chance to comment.

“We’re moving to Mexico,” Dani said.