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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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A 21-year-old Lebanese woman has accused an officer at a Texas immigration detention facility of sexually assaulting her and offering to help her obtain a green card in exchange for sex.
Rahaf Ali Almerhij, who goes by Lucy Wise and agreed to be identified, made the allegations in an interview with Newsweek and in a sworn declaration provided to the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) as part of several complaints made to the department’s internal watchdog.
She alleges that ICE deportation officer Markell Wallace took her into an isolated, self-locking room at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, where he touched her sexually without her consent. She also alleges that he threatened her husband with imprisonment and deportation if she refused his advances.
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“He told me, ‘I'm going to give you a green card,’ ” Almerhij told Newsweek. She said the officer told her, “Your husband is an old guy. He can't do anything to you. I'm the one that can help you.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, has rejected the allegations. A spokesperson for DHS told Newsweek, “Allegations of misconduct at El Valle Detention Facility are FALSE.”
"Incidents of misconduct are treated with the utmost seriousness and investigated thoroughly. When substantiated, appropriate action is taken," the spokesperson added.
The allegations have not been independently verified by Newsweek. The account is based on Almerhij's interview and sworn declaration.
ICE records obtained by Newsweek identify Wallace as a deportation officer with Enforcement and Removal Operations at the Harlingen Field Office. Two sources independently confirmed that Wallace was employed by the agency.
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When Newsweek approached DHS with the officer’s identity, the department said it would “never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” adding that publicizing officers’ identities puts “their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk.”
Newsweek also contacted Wallace directly by telephone.
He answered the call, saying, “Your friendly neighborhood ICE agent,” and confirmed his identity. When the reporter began asking about Almerhij's allegations, Wallace ended the call.
On November 5, Newsweek emailed Wallace a detailed list of questions about the allegations. He did not respond.
DHS said Border Patrol arrested Almerhij near the Rio Grande Valley on February 19, 2026. The agency said she entered the United States illegally from Montreal in August 2024. Her husband said she was attending Texas A&M University and pursuing nursing. He added that she was employed as the general manager at his dental clinic.
Almerhij’s Account of the Alleged Assault
Almerhij said the alleged assault happened after her former attorney withdrew from her immigration case in April 2026, leaving her without legal representation. She said Wallace called her in to discuss her case ahead of an interview with other investigators, then took her to a small, isolated room inside El Valle.
In her sworn declaration, Almerhij described a room with a small table where she and Wallace were alone. She said she saw no security camera and believed there were none, although she did not know whether anyone outside could hear them.
Almerhij's sworn declaration says that Wallace "put his hand inside my pants and inserted his finger," then "pulled down my pants and underwear until the lower part of my body was naked," and "began to lower his own pants."
"I did not consent to any of this; I refused and told him to stop," Almerhij said in her sworn declaration. "I was a detainee, and he was the officer who had influence over my case, my release, and my medical care, and I did not feel that I could refuse to go with him or leave the room."
She alleges that Wallace used his position and her immigration status to pressure her, suggesting he could help secure her release and offering a green card. She said he gave her his personal phone number and offered to travel to Mexico if she changed her mind.
She also alleges that he threatened to have her husband imprisoned and deported if she refused his advances.
“I feel like all my life has been destroyed,” Almerhij said. “I stopped everything. I can't talk with anybody.”
Almerhij did not disclose the full sexual-assault allegation in her initial complaints while she was detained. Her husband, Sam Wise, said he first learned about it in late August 2026, months after she had left ICE custody. He said he discovered what had happened through a friend to whom Almerhij had confided.
Wise said she had kept it from him because she feared being blamed or shamed, or that he would leave her. He said that in their culture, women who are sexually assaulted can face severe stigma and, in some cases, violence in the name of so-called "honor."
"I am heartbroken and angry," Wise told Newsweek. "I carry guilt that I could not protect her, and pain that she suffered alone and in silence for months. But the shame is his, not hers. I am proud of her courage, and I will never leave her."
The couple had contacted federal oversight bodies months earlier, but those spring complaints concerned Almerhij's medical treatment and conditions at El Valle, not the detailed sexual-assault allegation she later made.
On February 26, her husband emailed DHS OIG about the facility's refusal to accept her specialized eye drops and other medical and welfare concerns.
In April, her husband escalated those complaints over her deteriorating eyesight and submitted further reports about detention conditions, including allegations that male staff could see naked female detainees in bathroom and shower areas.
Those spring complaints did not contain Almerhij's later detailed account of sexual assault. Her husband says he did not know about the alleged assault at the time and did not report it in those complaints.
Almerhij said she was too afraid of retaliation to provide the full details in writing while detained. In her declaration, she said facility staff had asked her to write a complaint if she had been harassed. She submitted a statement of about three pages but left out names and details because she was afraid she would be harmed.
“I wrote that there were things I could not talk about or write except in front of a person I trust, because I was afraid that they would hurt me or retaliate against me,” her declaration states.
"I can't say everything. Because I'm scared to somebody will hurt me," she said in an interview.
She said Wallace remained involved in her case and requests for interviews until she left the facility.
Almerhij further alleges that the incident was not isolated.
In her sworn declaration, she wrote, “That assault was not the only one. After it, Wallace sexually harassed me or touched me on at least two other occasions.”
On October 9, 2026, after learning of Almerhij's account, her husband submitted complaints specifically alleging sexual misconduct by Wallace to the DHS Office of Inspector General, ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, DHS's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The following day, Almerhij signed a sworn declaration describing the alleged assault. On October 19, Wise sent the declaration as a formal supplement to those bodies and ICE's Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.
Almerhij was granted voluntary departure on May 1, 2026. She subsequently left for Istanbul before traveling to Mexico. She is now in Mexico, while her husband, a lawful permanent resident, remains in Texas.
DHS said she accepted voluntary return and that ICE removed Almerhij from the country.
OIG interview
On October 23, Almerhij attended an in-person interview with DHS Office of Inspector General investigators at the Anzalduas Port of Entry in Mission, Texas, to discuss the sexual-misconduct allegations.
Almerhij says the interview was conducted by special agents Carissa Villagomez and Jaime Perez. Her attorney, Ron Armstrong, and an Arabic interpreter participated by telephone.
Almerhij also provided investigators with her original 59-page handwritten diary from her time in detention, along with an Arabic transcription and an English translation.
The following day, Almerhij dictated a 12-page account of the interview from memory. She says investigators asked about the alleged incident, its timeline and location, her previous interactions with the staff member, the threats she described, her efforts to complain, and whether she knew of other women with similar experiences.
"I still feel like I'm like a dead body; that's what I feel. I had never been like this," Almerhij said.
"I was the happiest lady in the world...and then suddenly I lost everything."
Wise said Almerhij’s sworn declaration was sent to Wallace County and District Attorney Annette C. Hinojosa on November 5. According to Wise, Hinojosa responded on November 9 and forwarded the report to the Raymondville Police Department, which she said had jurisdiction, and said her office’s Victim Assistance Unit would contact Almerhij.
Questions Over Medical Care in ICE Custody
Almerhij also alleges that she was initially denied specialized eye drops and faced delays in receiving specialist care while in ICE custody, despite warnings about possible permanent vision loss.
Almerhij underwent keratopigmentation, a cosmetic eye-colour procedure, in New York in June 2025. She has said she experienced complications following the surgery and had glaucoma.
After her arrest in February 2026, detention medical records documented complaints of eye pain, blurred vision, tearing and light sensitivity, alongside changing visual-acuity measurements.
Her husband said he attempted to bring specialized eye drops derived from her own blood products to El Valle on February 23, but facility staff refused to accept them. DHS confirmed the attempt, saying the drops were not permitted under facility rules.
On March 20, ophthalmologist Dr. Alexander Movshovich warned that her symptoms could indicate a risk of irreversible optic nerve damage. He recommended an urgent specialist assessment and prompt transfer to a qualified medical center, and offered to examine her on an emergency basis.
Almerhij later challenged her detention in federal court, alleging she was not receiving appropriate specialist care. The government disputed that characterization, citing outside examinations, treatment, and scheduled follow-up care.
DHS said its Office of Inspector General (OIG) received a complaint in April 2026, reviewed the allegations, and found “no impropriety.” It also said Almerhij did not identify an officer as the subject of her allegations during that review.
The April review covered earlier complaints about medical care, detention conditions and privacy violations, including male staff seeing female detainees naked. Almerhij did not make the specific sexual-assault allegations against Wallace until October. The April review therefore did not address those later allegations.
DHS referred Newsweek to the OIG regarding its review of the allegations. Newsweek has contacted the OIG several times seeking comment on the scope and findings of its review, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
A federal judge dismissed a habeas petition filed by Rahaf Ali Almerhij on May 14, 2026, ruling that challenges to the medical care she received in ICE custody could not be brought through that type of case.
In her petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Almerhij argued that officials had effectively prevented her from accessing necessary specialist care and that she faced an imminent risk of permanent blindness. Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said the parties “vigorously dispute” the adequacy of her medical treatment, but concluded that claims concerning conditions of confinement, including medical care, must be pursued through a civil rights action rather than habeas proceedings. The judge also rejected her separate claim that her continued detention without a bond hearing violated the Fifth Amendment. The ruling did not resolve whether the medical care she received was adequate.
DHS denied allegations of inadequate medical care at El Valle, saying “Allegations of subprime conditions or medical care at El Valle Detention Facility are FALSE. No one is denied access to medical care.”
The agency said Almerhij received treatment from an outside provider for complications related to cosmetic eye surgery performed before detention, attended three medical appointments, and declined a fourth. DHS added she told Border Patrol officers following her arrest that she had no medical conditions.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton, Mike Hist and Geoffrey Rowland.
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