ICE Arrests Former Latvian ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Professional With Violent Criminal History

A former television dancer who entered the United States legally and then stayed illegally for nearly 14 years is now in ICE custody.

His record in America is no dance card.

Federal immigration officers arrested Roberts Nemiro in San Francisco after receiving a referral from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Nemiro once competed on Latvia’s version of “Dancing With the Stars.”

According to federal officials, he later accumulated convictions for aggravated assault involving a gun and disorderly conduct, along with a series of other arrests.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest Saturday:

DEGENERATE DANCER DETAINED: this illegal alien from Latvia once had a career as a professional dancer on TV, but has turned into a CAREER CRIMINAL.

Roberts Nemiro, from Latvia, was previously a contestant on the Latvian equivalent of “Dancing with the Stars.” But since being in… pic.twitter.com/EzXjdODdX7

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 1, 2026

The arrest is a sharp reminder that the illegal-immigration problem does not begin and end at the southern border.

Visa overstays matter too.

The New York Post reported that Nemiro entered the United States on a visa in October 2011. That visa expired in August 2012, but he remained in the country for almost 14 more years without lawful status.

ICE officers arrested him in San Francisco on July 28 after USCIS provided information about his location. The referral shows that the arrest grew from information shared between federal immigration agencies, not a random street sweep.

The report identified Nemiro’s convictions as aggravated assault of a non-family member with a gun and disorderly conduct. Those convictions form the proven core of the criminal history cited by federal officials.

It separately listed arrests for battery, sexual battery, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Nemiro, 43, had previously appeared on “Dejo ar zvaigzni!,” Latvia’s version of the British competition “Strictly Come Dancing,” which American audiences know as “Dancing With the Stars.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said ICE made the arrest despite California’s sanctuary policies and that Nemiro would face deportation from the United States.

He remains in federal immigration custody while those removal proceedings move forward.

That distinction matters. An arrest is not a conviction, and the allegations tied only to arrests should not be described as proven offenses.

What is not disputed is that Nemiro remained after his visa expired and is now being held in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Independent journalist Breanna Morello posted the immigration timeline and criminal-history breakdown:

🚨ARRESTED🚨

ICE arrested Roberts Nemiro, a illegal alien from Latvia, in San Francisco after a referral from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Nemiro first entered the United States on a visa in October 2011 and illegally overstayed after it expired in August 2012. pic.twitter.com/FtKe3HUF6J

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) July 31, 2026

Nemiro’s television background makes the arrest unusual, but the enforcement principle should be ordinary.

A visa is permission to enter the country for a specific period.

It is not a permanent pass, and it does not become one simply because the government fails to act when the expiration date arrives.

When an overstayer later builds a violent criminal record, the cost of that failure becomes much more serious.

The case also exposes one of the central weaknesses in the old immigration system.

Different federal agencies can possess different pieces of the same file: one knows when the visa expired, another handles an immigration application, local authorities hold criminal records and ICE has the authority to make the immigration arrest.

If those pieces are never connected, a removable alien can remain for years.

Here, the USCIS referral gave ICE the lead it needed.

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That is how enforcement is supposed to work.

DHS also emphasized that the arrest happened in California, where sanctuary policies routinely make cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officers more difficult.

Sanctuary politicians like to portray every immigration-enforcement action as an indiscriminate raid on otherwise law-abiding families.

This case is the opposite.

Federal officers identified a long-term visa overstayer with serious convictions, located him and placed him into removal proceedings.

That is targeted enforcement focused on someone the government says should no longer be in the country.

President Trump’s immigration agenda is often reduced by critics to slogans about the border.

But a functioning system requires more than stopping unlawful entry between ports of entry.

It requires monitoring visa expirations, sharing information, prioritizing aliens with criminal records and following removal cases through to the end.

Nemiro arrived as a legal visitor and stayed after that permission ended.

Nearly 14 years later, federal officers finally brought the curtain down.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up. View the original article here.