Surveillance video shows ICE agents arrest Wisconsin state trooper at airport

Surveillance video shows ICE agents arrest Wisconsin state trooper at airport 12 News Investigates obtained video showing ICE agents arresting Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, a Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper, last Thursday. Van Der Merwe's arrest drew public criticism. Advertisement Updated: 11:50 AM CST Nov 10, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ James Stratton Reporter Surveillance video shows ICE agents arrest Wisconsin state trooper at airport 12 News Investigates obtained video showing ICE agents arresting Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, a Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper, last Thursday. Van Der Merwe's arrest drew public criticism. Updated: 11:50 AM CST Nov 10, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ James Stratton Reporter MADISON, Wis. — Surveillance video 12 News Investigates obtained shows ICE agents arresting Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, a Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper, last Thursday. The South African immigrant was briefly jailed after agents arrested him at the Dane County Regional Airport. The arrest drew public backlash. Advertisement Van Der Merwe immigrated to the U.S. seven years ago at age 14. His attorney told 12 News he had been working legally under a permit issued by the Department of Homeland Security while his family awaited a decision on their asylum case they filed in 2019. His attorney told 12 News agents arrested him as he was preparing to board a flight to New Mexico to visit his family. Video shows two men who appear to be ICE agents waiting in the airport for roughly 45 minutes, speaking to two sheriff's deputies. The men, holding folders, stop Van Der Merwe inside the airport, and he gives them some sort of ID. The surveillance video does not have audio. The footage can be seen in the video player above. Video shows the group then walk into a doorway with the deputies in tow. After a brief discussion, one agent takes Van Der Merwe's bag, and the other appears to place him in cuffs and the agents walk him out the door. While walking out, one agent gives the sheriff's deputies a thumbs up and one waves back. "He's risked his life to help out people in our community, and when you're going to indiscriminately pick him up, detain him, especially when he's done everything correctly that he can do. I think that people just found that to be an extreme overreach," said his attorney Marc Christopher Monday in an interview with WISN 12 News. President Donald Trump appeared to reference cases like Van Der Merwe's during a Sunday interview on CBS's "60 Minutes." "I get very good marks for getting the bad ones out. But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation for breaking of the law, and that was they came into the country illegally. I think it might be too tough, yeah," Trump said. Department of Homeland Security jailed Van Der Merwe for roughly 24 hours Thursday and released him Friday night. His attorney credits public pressure and the efforts of Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden, who spoke directly to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the case. Van Der Merwe is expected to return to his State Patrol duties while awaiting an immigration court hearing in the coming months. "We're gonna try to use every tool that's available to us to try to get this young man his lawful permanent resident status," Christopher said. DHS did not answer questions directly about the case on Friday. "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 administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport," a DHS spokesperson said, in part, in a statement to 12 News. Make WISN a preferred source on Google Add Preferred Source Share Infinite Scroll Enabled Top Picks Inflation numbers are in. Try our calculator to estimate the cost difference of various groceries Florida cowboys rescue farm animals left stranded by flooding: 'It's gut-wrenching' Top Runway model, '227' actress, dies at 74 after 'long, courageous battle' with MS Baker who's legally blind pursues dream of running his own bakery. He faces unique challenges