As the immigration blitz wound down, an Uptown couple breathed a sigh of relief. Then they were torn apart.

Standing before a federal judge in Chicago’s Loop, Eva Gurtovaia took her oath of allegiance to the United States. She was now officially a citizen, a moment she and her husband, Enes Abak, had been looking forward to for months. Loved ones filled the courtroom. None, though, was hers. Abak couldn’...