Apparently she got stuck in the States when all the borders were closed during the pandemic, which seems pretty reasonable grounds for overstaying.
But - she didn’t leave when the borders re-opened. She had fallen in love and at some point she filed paperwork to normalize her status - though they’re pretty coy about when they filled the papers, so I suspect that was done after the borders re-opened and she should have left.
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I’m also going to point out what I haven’t seen in any of the comments so far which is that, with ICE being pressured to increase the number of deportations, they’re opting to go for low-hanging fruit. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean raiding places that they’ve known for decades are hiring illegal immigrants, arresting and prosecuting and imprisoning the owners and managers.
It does mean that they’re hanging out at at least some airports, and it sounds like they’re running passenger lists ahead of time (because they knew exactly who to approach). I mean, why to go the trouble of driving out to some farm or factory in the middle of nowhere, trying to chase down people who know the area better than you ever will, when you can sit at a comfy air-conditioned desk and only bother to get up when the computer lets you know that your “target” is trying to check in for their flight?
Food is the one the one thing I buy regularly, that I directly purchase and can know the source on. So I’m sitting here with my little local CSA farm-share all lined up, and a tiny garden set up out back. There’ll be things I’ll have to buy, but I’ll either get them at the farmer’s market, or I’ll make sure to purchase imports. I’m absolutely determined to avoid red-state produce.