A former modeling agent who has been a trusted determine round Donald and Melania Trump for many years, Paolo Zampolli, is now on the middle of a report claiming he reached out to a senior ICE official after his Brazilian ex, Amanda Ungaro, was arrested in Miami in June 2025, coincidentally whereas the 2 had been in a custody battle over their teenage son.
The precise arrest was for costs of fraud and training medication and not using a license at a med spa she ran together with her husband — then ICE got here for her. Zampolli allegedly referred to as a senior ICE official to verify she’d be taken into custody the second she walked out, since her visa expired again in 2019.
She had been renewing her visa for nearly 20 years earlier than it expired. Curiously sufficient, Ungaro arrived within the U.S. in 2002 at age 17 on Jeffrey Epstein’s personal airplane.
Epstein sufferer Amanda Ungaro met Melania Trump for the primary time when she was 18 years previous on Trump’s airplane touring from Miami to New York Metropolis.
She was courting Paolo Zampolli, age 33 on the time, who’s now Trump’s Particular Consultant for World Partnerships https://t.co/OXKn2kKXbd pic.twitter.com/uDX1f4YR7z
— grizzy (@Furbeti) February 26, 2026
In keeping with The New York Instances, Zampolli has admitted he made the decision to the company about his ex. What he strongly denies is that he was attempting to get her held so the scenario would tilt in his favor.
As soon as that report began making the rounds, voices from throughout social media wasted no time weighing in, most believing that he used his energy to get her detained.
“And I’m positive the cult will discover nothing improper with this,” one Folks journal reader wrote.
One Threads consumer wrote, “This was a criminal offense that noticed folks unfastened their jobs and serve time. Now could be your typical Saturday,” turning the allegations right into a broader criticism about energy and accountability.
In keeping with the report, Zampolli contacted high-ranking official David Venturella after studying Ungaro had been taken into custody.
The declare is that he raised questions on her immigration standing and whether or not she might be transferred to ICE detention whereas their custody case was ongoing. Zampolli, for his half, mentioned he was solely attempting to grasp what her arrest meant and what the method seemed like.
Nonetheless, the small print did little to calm the web response.
“It’s not possible to wrap a traditional pondering mind round!!” one other Threads consumer declared.
One other labeled the scenario “totally disgraceful and diabolical.”
Another person tried to attach it to an even bigger sample, writing, “This isn’t the primary time I heard ice referred to as on an ex with regard to custody battle. Levits brother did it too.”
Karoline Leavitt’s household confronted related scrutiny after her brother Michael’s former associate, a Brazilian immigrant and mom of his little one, was taken into ICE custody throughout their custody dispute. The case raised questions on affect, immigration standing, and the way private conflicts can spill into public view, in accordance with WBUR.
Whether or not folks noticed each circumstances as private, political, or each, the response was intense.
Ungaro was despatched again to Brazil. She reportedly mentioned it was devastating to be taught that outdoors affect could have touched her case.
What makes Zampolli particularly fascinating in Trump-world is that he’s not simply one other identify floating across the orbit. He’s the person broadly credited with introducing Trump to Melania within the late Nineties, again when he was working within the modeling enterprise and serving to carry her to the US. Their friendship lasted lengthy after that first introduction.
Over time, the confidant stayed shut, moved via Trump’s social and enterprise circles, and now serves in an administration function tied to international partnerships.
Like Ungaro, Melania can be an immigrant, however their paths in America turned out very otherwise. The primary woman secured citizenship, whereas Ungaro, in accordance with the report, remained on non permanent visas, anticipating marriage to her little one’s father would ultimately make her standing everlasting. Now, regardless of being talked about within the Epstein recordsdata as a young person, she has been deported.
Amanda Ungaro, former UN ambassador and Paolo Zampolli’s ex-wife was deported by the Trump administration final yr.
Why is that this important?
Paolo Zampolli serves as the US Particular Consultant for World Partnerships, and so they had been going via a nasty custody… https://t.co/keS4FBdJy0 pic.twitter.com/BkJyVYb2Io
— Dittie (@DittiePE) January 21, 2026
The Trump marriage has lengthy drawn public curiosity, with critics questioning whether or not the connection has at all times been extra strategic than romantic.
That distinction is what offers this story its edge. It’s not solely about custody or immigration guidelines, however about how private decisions can form a household’s future — and why the Brazilian ex ought to have taken a web page from Melania’s e book and locked down citizenship first.
