Woman Spends 3 Months in ICE Detention After Slapping Husband at Las Vegas Buffet
A Southern California family drove to Las Vegas for a vacation, sat down for a meal on the Strip and ended up separated for months after an argument between a husband and wife got physical.
Hotel security at Encore detained Arpine Misakyan after surveillance cameras reportedly captured her slapping her husband during an April 6 dispute at the Wynn buffet. Two Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the hotel, and Misakyan was arrested for battery constituting domestic violence, according to 8 News Now.
What might otherwise have been a relatively short local criminal case took another turn before Misakyan had even left police custody. She complained of high blood pressure and difficulty breathing, prompting officers to take her to University Medical Center.
ICE agents arrived at the hospital and detained her. By the time the ordeal was over, Clark County prosecutors had dismissed the local charge, but Misakyan had spent roughly three months in immigration detention and ultimately left the United States.
A Night Out
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Body-camera footage obtained by 8 News Now shows Metro officers responding to Encore after hotel staff reported the domestic battery.
Security had already placed Misakyan in handcuffs in a holding room. The station, which also reviewed a Metro police report, reported that hotel surveillance captured the slap.
The situation became more complicated as officers prepared to remove Misakyan from the property. She complained that she was having trouble breathing and had high blood pressure, and police took her to University Medical Center for treatment.
Her family remained nearby as officers explained that Misakyan was in police custody for the domestic-violence arrest.
Her husband, meanwhile, was not pushing for her to remain behind bars.
Not His Call
8 News Now reported that Misakyan’s husband tried several times to get her released.
Officers explained that the decision was no longer simply his to make. Nevada law places restrictions on the release of people arrested for certain domestic-violence offenses, and the station reported that officers told the family Misakyan would have to remain in custody.
That makes one popular reaction to the story difficult to support. Some viewers joked that the husband’s “plan worked,” but the available reporting shows him trying to get his wife released rather than attempting to prolong her arrest.
Before the local case could play out, another agency entered the picture.
ICE agents arrived at UMC and took Misakyan into immigration custody.
A Different Case
Misakyan had a pending asylum case at the time, according to 8 News Now. The station reported that ICE nevertheless characterized her as unlawfully present in the United States.
Her immigration detention then continued independently of the Strip arrest.
Clark County prosecutors ultimately dismissed the domestic battery charge against Misakyan, meaning the encounter at Encore did not end in a local criminal conviction.
The dismissal did not end the immigration case.
ICE told 8 News Now that Misakyan accepted voluntary departure and left the United States on July 4, roughly three months after the April encounter.
That distinction is important to the outcome. Although Misakyan was detained by ICE and eventually left the country, the agency’s statement to the station described the resolution specifically as voluntary departure.
After The Slap
The case also prompted 8 News Now to ask Metro about when immigration officials are notified following an arrest.
LVMPD provided the station with its policy governing ICE notifications. According to the report, the department’s detention procedures call for ICE notification when certain foreign-born people are arrested for offenses that include domestic violence.
Wynn declined to comment to 8 News Now and referred questions about the arrest to Metro.
By then, however, the criminal case that started the chain of events was already gone: prosecutors had dismissed Misakyan’s charge, while her separate immigration case ended with her July 4 departure from the United States.
