"It's been just over two weeks since she was taken, and it's just constant fear," May told Eyewitness News.
May has been fighting every day to get his wife, Barbara Gomes May, out of ICE detention and back home.
They were married earlier this year and started proceedings to get her a green card. Last month, they went to the Federal Building in downtown L.A. Someone said they needed to make a copy of her passport.
"We made the mistake of trusting that individual because we had been told for months everything was fine and he had just assured us of the same," May said. "My wife followed him down the hallway and never came back."
That's when their nightmare began. The government says Gomes May, who is from Brazil, overstayed her visa back in 2018 and a judge ordered her removed. Their attorney claims she never got the notification because it was sent in the mail, and she had moved.
Barbara Gomes May was taken to a detention center in Adelanto, then to Arizona and finally to Louisiana. They tried to send her documents to stop the deportation, but by moving her around so much, it made it very difficult.
"And they delayed this communication to her, and that was on Monday. They only gave her the document on Friday when she was about to leave to Arizona and then later on to Louisiana," their attorney Marcelo Gondim said.
May said his wife went without food or water for more than 12 hours.
"She told me last night, she was forced to take the shoes off her feet and use those as a pillow because she was not provided anything," May said.
Gomes May was only hours away from being deported. On Wednesday, she was actually scheduled to be on a flight from Louisiana to Brazil, but her attorney filed last-minute documents on Tuesday and was able to cancel the deportation.
Their attorney says because she is married to an American citizen, they should be able to get her released soon, but they're still not exactly sure where she is. Gondim said she called Wednesday night, saying she was in Arizona.
Her husband says he doesn't trust the government even though there appears to be a court victory.
"Even victories are fleeting," May said. "Hope is very, very hard to find until we actually know that this is resolved."