PHOENIX — Two Argentine acrobats who once coached at a Phoenix circus school are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after being detained at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, accused of overstaying their visas, FOX 10 Phoenix reported.
Gustavo Romanello, 34, and Augustin Baccega, 42, work as acrobats at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park in Florida. They flew from Orlando to Phoenix on Nov. 6 to honor a friend who had died, according to friends.
Jonathan Batchelor, a friend who trained under the pair at the Arizona Circus Center, told FOX 10 that ICE agents arrested Baccega right after the men got off the plane and that Romanello was detained shortly afterward. Batchelor said he was on the phone with Romanello as it happened.
Friends say the men applied for asylum in 2021 and were given work permits, and they are now pushing for their release. Thee Arizona Times could not independently confirm the men’s immigration status.
“They are so genuine, so authentic that everybody falls in love with them,” Batchelor told the station.
“It’s clear DHS didn’t believe these people were dangerous. They would never have let them get on the plane if they thought they were actually dangerous,” he said.
Arizona’s Family also reported on the detentions. Federal officials have not publicly detailed the case.
The arrests come as ICE reports record enforcement numbers nationwide. New Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by CBS News show the agency deported a record 483,200 people in the 2026 fiscal year.
Sources: FOX 10 Phoenix, Arizona’s Family. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Designism / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
