This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A woman who grabbed a “Make America Great Again” hat off a man’s head in a Massachusetts restaurant is facing deportation after being arrested at the scene, but her immigration lawyer says she is in the US legally.

Rosiane Santos was charged with assault and battery for grabbing Bryton Turner’s hat bearing Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, while in a Mexican restaurant in the coastal town of Falmouth on 15 February. She was required to appear in court and pleaded not guilty.

Turner recorded the encounter at the Casa Vallarta restaurant and posted it online.

The 41-year-old Santos was taken into custody on Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and released pending removal proceedings. Ice says the Brazil native is in the US illegally.

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Immigration attorney Katarina Kozakova says Santos married a US citizen and has applied for a green card.

Turner said that he “never would’ve assumed she was illegal” but that “now she has to suffer the consequences”.

Play Video 0:37 Woman grabs Maga hat off man's head in Massachusetts 'assault' – video

“We filed for a green card in November,” Kozakova, who works for Joyce & Associates, told the Cape Cod Times. “It is still pending, so she is in an authorized state.”

Santos has driving infractions on her record since obtaining her Massachusetts driving license in 1996, but “has never been convicted of anything that would jeopardize a green card”, according to Kozakova.

According to the police report, she told officers she objected to the man eating in a Mexican restaurant while wearing the hat with the Trump election campaign slogan, which is widely associated with the president’s anti-immigration rhetoric and hardline policies. Police said she was “highly intoxicated” and uncooperative during her arrest.