LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Las Vegas man and are reportedly seeking to deport him to Iran, a country he hasn’t lived in for more than 50 years.

David Charles Bunnell, 65, is currently at Nevada Southern Detention Correction located in Pahrump after federal agents arrested him on June 24, according to his family.

“We were all devastated like, they just kidnapped my husband,” Elizabeth Bunnell said. “Everything happened so fast that I was just asking them for their name and badge numbers. They refused to tell me. They were like, ‘we don’t have to tell you that information.'”

The ICE agents eventually relented and gave her their badge numbers.

According to ICE, an immigration judge in 2012 ordered Bunnell’s removal from the United States after he was convicted of domestic violence in Clark County in 2010 and spent almost two months in prison.

“There’s so much uncertainty that we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Elizabeth Bunnell said.

David Bunnell owns a small business. His wife asked me not to disclose the name of his business and what he does as a precaution.

“People are scared these days,” Elizabeth Bunnell said.

She was told that the federal government is seeking to deport her husband to Iran.

“My husband does not have family in Iran. He’s been here since 1977, and all his family and everyone else resides here,” Elizabeth Bunnell said.

ICE sent the following statement to 8 News Now on the matter:

“Bunnell is an Iranian national who claims to have entered the United States sometime in 1974. Bunnell has a lengthy criminal history from 1984 to present with the most serious conviction for domestic violence where he received a 48-month prison sentence. An immigration judge ordered Bunnell removed Jan. 18, 2012, and he will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.”

He also has eight misdemeanor convictions, with the most recent one in 2008, records showed.

According to federal data, Nevada has seen a 289% increase in ICE arrests this year compared to 2024.