The anguished American wife of a Brazilian national arrested by ICE agents this month pleaded yesterday with President Trump to “do the right thing for the families” after a judge denied her husband’s release.

“He said that he would arrest the criminals and the ones that are doing the horrible crimes. … Just do the right thing for the families,” Karah de Oliveira, 27, of Beverly, said yesterday outside the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston, after U.S. Immigration Court Judge Jose A. Sanchez declined to release or grant bond to her husband, Fabiano Mateus de Oliveira.

“I thought maybe I would be bringing him home today and it’s just heartbreaking,” she said.

The couple’s plight was first reported in yesterday’s Herald.

Sanchez said the matter was outside his jurisdiction. His denial has set the stage for the couple’s attorney, Jeffrey Rubin, to argue for de Oliveira’s freedom Feb. 7 before U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf. Wolf is giving Rubin and federal authorities until today to try to come to a resolution.

If the matter reaches Wolf’s courtroom, Rubin is expected to argue ICE violated his client’s due process because they didn’t follow federal law, which calls for the agency to detain a suspected illegal immigrant within 90 days following a deportation order. De Oliveira came to Massachusetts illegally in 2005. ICE was aware of his whereabouts for more than a year because the couple applied for a spousal petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Lawrence, Rubin said.

De Oliveira was arrested Jan. 9 during an interview at that Lawrence office. The routine interview is an initial step undocumented immigrants married to American citizens take in hopes of obtaining a green card. The interview with federal Citizenship and Immigration Services personnel is also meant to thwart fraud by determining the validity of a marriage.

If de Oliveira’s case is heard by Wolf next week, he could determine the constitutionality of the ICE arrest, which could have national implications.

“We’ll see if it has a more far-reaching effect. I’m really focused on Fabiano’s release,” Rubin said. He called the arrest “arbitrary.” De Oliveira has a near-spotless record that only includes a driving without a license infraction, Rubin said.

Todd Lyons, ICE’s enforcement and removal operations deputy field office director, said in a statement: “All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest. … ICE may work with USCIS on certain cases, which may include unexecuted final orders of removal, as determined on a case by case basis.”

Fabiano, 33, is a doting father with the couple’s 5-year-old son, his wife said. De Oliveira’s mother-in-law, Janice Swanson, wiped tears from her eyes following the hearing yesterday.

“ICE has to understand there’s a domino effect here,” she said. “He has a wife, he has a son — he has a family. We just want him home.”