TROY, Mo. (KMOV/Gray News) - Loved ones in Missouri say a grandmother will be spending Thanksgiving behind bars after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Donna Hughes Brown, an Irish citizen and legal resident alien, is being held in a Kentucky detention facility while federal officials reportedly seek to deport her over misdemeanor bad check charges from more than a decade ago.

Her immigration case has also been delayed, this time until Dec. 18.

Officials said that her past bad check charges constitute crimes of moral turpitude and warrant deportation.

However, her husband, Jim Brown, said their arguments are all wrong.

"Please show me in the Bible where this is what you are supposed to do. It's wrong. Period," he said. "Because she's 100% innocent. Including being legal in this country."

Jim Brown said his wife was trying to provide for her family when the bad check incidents occurred, and she has been in the country since she was 11 years old.

"She was trying to feed her family. So, we're arresting people that's trying to feed their family is what they're doing," he said.

Immigration cases are not open to the public, but Jim Brown said his wife's case has been continued three times and fears it will be delayed again.

"She hasn't ever been heard as far as trial goes, which is nonsense that she even has to go through a freaking trial for this," Jim Brown said. "Why in the world should she have to go through a trial for something that she already paid for, that was a misdemeanor?"

Speaking by phone from the detention facility to a Cincinnati television station, Donna Brown said the experience has been difficult.

"It has been absolutely horrible," she said. "I didn't feel there was a threat of any of this happening to me. I'm here legally. Did I commit a crime many, many years ago? Yes, I did. Did I pay for that crime, many, many years ago? Yes, I did."

After multiple inquiries, an ICE spokesperson provided the following statement regarding the situation:

"Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is prioritizing the removal of criminal alien offenders who pose a threat to public safety and the rule of law," the statement said. "Individuals who are in the United States lawfully and have not violated immigration laws or committed crimes have no reason to fear enforcement actions."

Jim Brown disputes that his wife poses any threat.

"How in the world can you get by with hurting people that haven't done anything wrong?" he said.

Jim Brown continued, saying that federal officials "should realize that tearing families apart that haven't caused crime is absolutely wrong."

The woman's husband said Missouri lawmakers have not helped with the case, but Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth told him she will do what she can.