Two performers at Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last weekend after traveling to Arizona for a funeral.
Husbands Agustin Baccega and Gustavo Romanello first came to the U.S. legally in 2020 from Argentina. They applied for asylum — their cases remain pending — and were given social security numbers, passports, IDs, have paid taxes, and have work permits that aren’t set to expire until 2029, according to Alexa Neilen.
Neilen, a fellow performer at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park, described herself to Orlando Weekly as the couple’s “best friend.” She’s known them for four years. Neither of them have a criminal history.
“They’re beautiful, amazing people,” Neilen told Orlando Weekly over the phone. She explained how she’s performed with Baccega as aerial partners in a show where the two characters fall in love. “And it was so easy to fall in love with him during the show because he’s such an amazing, amazing, talented, beautiful man, and so is Gustavo,” she said.
They all also work together in the Untrainable Dragon Show at Universal Orlando’s newest theme park, Epic Universe. “They bring those special moments that all the tourists come to see at these shows,” said Neilen. “They bring the light and they embody Orlando entertainment.”
Orlando’s main economic driver is the tens of millions of tourists that visit the Central Florida region annually, due in large part to world-renowned theme parks like Disney World and Universal Orlando.
Many of those who help sustain the industry, however, as performers, cooks, rideshare drivers and hotel housekeepers, are immigrants of varying legal status.
Thousands have seen their livelihoods in the U.S. threatened by the Trump administration’s efforts to get rid of Temporary Protected Status for immigrants who fled their home countries due to climate disasters or political violence.
ICE has also arrested and detained more than 500 U.S. citizens under Trump’s second presidency, according to a ProPublica investigation.
Baccega and Romanello, for their part, were reportedly arrested by plainclothes ICE officers at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix after traveling to Arizona from Orlando for a friend’s funeral. The couple previously lived and worked in Arizona as circus performers before moving to Florida.
Neilen, who heard of the arrests Monday, said she was “shocked, heartbroken and angry” upon learning the news.
She’s since spoken with Orlando State Rep. Anna Eskamani, U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, Congressman Darren Soto, and Arizona legislators to help determine options for the couple’s release.
The men are currently being held in two different detention centers in Arizona that are about 25 miles apart. According to ICE’s detainee locator, Baccega is at the Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, and Romanello is being detained at the Florence Service Processing Center in Florence.
The Eloy Detention Center has faced scrutiny this year over allegations of abusive detention practices, including verbal and physical abuse by guards, medical neglect and unsafe drinking water.
Neilen said she was able to get on the phone with Agustin for the first time Wednesday night. The first 30 seconds of their allotted five-minute conversation, she said, was the two of them crying on the phone together after Neilen heard his voice.
“They were finally able to get blankets and pillows after three days,” she recalled from the conversation. “They’re crowded, around hundreds of people in these tiny rooms with one or two bunk beds to 30.”
Officers at the detention center, she said, are also refusing to speak Spanish to those detained who can’t speak English. “So Agustin and Gustavo are trying their best to translate for the people around them. It’s unjust, it’s unfair and it’s inhumane.”
An ICE spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel Wednesday that Baccega and Romanello’s visas expired in 2021, and that their work permits aren’t sufficient to avoid ICE enforcement action.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, his administration has moved to detain and deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants they allege are in the U.S. illegally. Although Trump initially declared they’d only be going after criminals, data show the vast majority of those being detained — about 70 percent — have no criminal convictions.
“Employment authorization, commonly referred to as a work permit, does not confer immigration status or prevent ICE from taking enforcement action, including arrest or removal proceedings,” the ICE spokesperson told the Sentinel in a statement. “As a result, Romanello and Baccega will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
Another one of their friends, Jonathan Batchelor, set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the couple’s legal fees as their friends work to get them out of detention. So far, they’ve raised over $45,000 with a goal of $55,000.
According to Neilen, the men’s legal fees begin at $30,000 each. “All these donations are helping so immensely,” she said. “It makes them feel some slight sense of relief, you know, and we’re just so grateful.”
“Please keep sharing, please keep donating, and keep this pressure going, because we’re gonna get them out of here,” she added.
