A 21-year-old Wisconsin State Patrol trooper detained at an airport was released after U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden intervened. Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, who was born in South Africa and works out of Tomah, was brought to the United States as a child legally. After arriving in the country, his parents waited seven years for an asylum interview, according to a press release issued by the law firm Christopher & De Leon. The firm said that Van Der Merwe was included on his father’s asylum application and holds a federal work authorization which expires in 2030.
Van Der Merwe was released after U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden contacted DHS and intervened on the state trooper’s behalf. A spokesperson for Van Orden told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that appropriate authorities will now work to resolve Van Der Merwe’s immigration paperwork and legal status. Attorney Marc Christopher said that while Van Der Merwe and his family are happy he was released, he should not have been detained and that it should not have required congressional intervention to resolve the matter.
Christopher called on lawmakers to confront what he called “inhumane and wasteful detention practices and the failure of our immigration system,” by ICE under the Trump administration, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. “Wisconsin trusted him to protect the public,” the law firm said in a statement after Van Der Merwe was arrested. “Now, ICE is holding him in immigration detention in Dodge County.”
Van Der Merwe joined the Wisconsin State Patrol because his pending immigration status prevented him from joining the military, according to his lawyers. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which oversees the State Patrol, confirmed in a statement to the Examiner that it was “aware of the situation” involving Van Der Merwe. He has worked with the department since July 2025. DOT did not comment on the circumstances of Van Der Merwe’s hiring, how his arrest affected his colleagues and community, or whether ICE or the Department of Homeland Security communicated with the State Patrol before or after arresting Van Der Merwe.
The statement from his attorneys said that Van Der Merwe was detained as he prepared to board a domestic flight. He tried to explain that he had a valid work permit pending an asylum claim, but “according to Van Der Merwe the officers said they did not care, placed him in handcuffs and shackles, and transported him to immigration detention in Dodge County. ICE says it is going after people who break the law. Here, it has detained someone whose job it is to uphold it.”
Christopher said in a statement that ICE did not have to detain Van Der Merwe. “He is neither a threat nor a flight risk,” he said. “He has a home, a career, and a community he serves. How does putting him behind bars make Wisconsin safer?”
A DHS spokesperson confirmed that Van Der Merwe was taken into ICE custody on Nov. 5. Calling him “an illegal alien from South Africa,” the spokesperson said that the arrest was part of a targeted operation at the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison. Contrary to his attorneys’ statement, DHS said that Van Der Merwe “entered the country in March 2019 with legal permission to stay until September 2019.” The spokesperson added that, “in defiance of our nation’s laws, he overstayed his admission. This illegal alien will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
DHS added that, “work authorization or a pending application do not confer legal status in the U.S.” The agency stated that “DHS reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country. Under President Trump, DHS will no longer tolerate this. This administrati
