A Brazilian model has claimed she was detained and deported from the United States after a request linked to someone close to US President Donald Trump. The model claimed the whole thing was a plot by her ex-husband to win the custody dispute of their teenage son.Amanda Ungaro, 41, said her former partner Paolo Zampolli, a longtime friend of Trump and a White House envoy, used his powerful influence to place her in immigration detention and eventually deport her to Brazil.“It was not enough for him to destroy me during 20 years of relationship: he wanted to destroy me again when I started a new life, when I got married,” Ungaro told the Spanish newspaper El Pais from her home in Rio de Janeiro.The allegations come from events that occurred in June 2025, when Ungaro was arrested in Miami along with her current husband, a Brazilian doctor, for an alleged fraud linked to a cosmetic clinic. She denied any wrongdoing and said she had no previous criminal record. According to her, about ten officers “raided” their home before detaining them.At the time of her arrest, Ungaro’s most recent U.S. visa had expired in 2019, leaving her without legal immigration status.
According to reports by The New York Times, Zampolli contacted a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official to ask if she could be transferred to ICE custody. During that call, the issue was described as important to “someone close to the White House.”Ungaro claims her ex-partner used her immigration status as leverage in their ongoing custody battle over their 16-year-old son.
She was later handcuffed and taken to an immigration detention center in Miami, where she spent “the whole day crying,” she said.Her account of detention describes harsh conditions. She said she was held alongside violent criminals, including “child killers,” and witnessed scenes such as an elderly detainee bound to a wheelchair, and a woman who had a miscarriage while awaiting medical care. Ungaro also claimed that many of the detainees had legal residency status.After more than three months in detention, she was transferred to Louisiana before being deported to Brazil. “It was a hall with more than 120 people, the floor was wet, there were no windows, four days without seeing the sun… I came out with lice,” she said.Ungaro said she returned to Brazil with nothing but her prison uniform. She left Brazil at the age of thirteen to pursue a modeling career in the United States.Zampolli categorically denied the accusations, saying he did not ask for any special treatment.
“My relationship with my son’s biological mother was very difficult,” he told The Daily Beast. “I hold on to my son because in Italy, you usually have a father and a mother.” He said he only requested information about the legal process.The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also rejected allegations of political interference, stating that Ungaro’s detention and deportation were due to her expiring visa and fraud charges.
He watches
‘SNL’ roasts Melania Trump in Epstein-themed open shocker
Zampolli introduced Melania Trump to Trump in the 1990s and has long been moving in the president’s circle for a long time. He also addressed previous claims about how he introduced them, saying: “I said: ‘Melania meet Donald, Donald meet Melania,’ and then I left the table because I had 300 guests.”A spokesperson for Melania Trump said she had “no knowledge of or involvement in the personal affairs of Mr. Zampolli and Ms. Ungaro,” and confirmed that she had no contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Zampolli’s name also appeared in documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein, although he has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the late child abuser.
