Sergeant José Serrano, still on duty after three missions in Afghanistan, had gone to immigration services to obtain a permanent residence permit for his wife from El Salvador.
“In order, without an order, without a warrant… They took my wife. They didn’t tell me anything,” said American Sergeant José Serrano, who had gone to immigration services on April 14 to request a permanent residence permit for his wife from El Salvador, who was stopped by ICE, the U.S. immigration services.
“A person opened the door, led us through the hallway, and at the end, my wife was stopped,” the soldier, still on active duty after three missions in Afghanistan, told the American agency Associated Press. The soldier’s wife was taken to a detention center in El Paso, on the border between the United States and Mexico, where she is still detained today.
Suspension of expulsion in 2019 According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, Deisy Rivera Ortega entered the United States illegally in 2016, and a judge issued a final deportation order in December 2019. However, the judge granted her suspension of deportation under the Convention against Torture, which theoretically prevents her from being sent back to her home country due to the risk of physical violence.
Deisy Rivera Ortega’s lawyer, Matthew James Kozik, also stated that she had a valid work permit. However, ICE stated that the work permit does not confer legal residency status in the United States and that Deisy Rivera Ortega remains detained pending her deportation.
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began deporting individuals to countries other than their home country, a process known as “third-country removals,” according to the BBC. ICE indicated its intention to deport Deisy Rivera Ortega to Mexico, but she contested her detention in the U.S. District Court and requested an order to block her deportation to Mexico, arguing that she has no ties to that neighboring country.
End of clemency for military families José Serrano’s wife also applied jointly with her husband under the “parole in place” policy, which was supposed to expedite the issuance of green cards for military spouses who also reside in the country. However, the Department of Homeland Security recently revoked this policy, which treated close family members’ military service as a significant mitigating factor in immigration enforcement decisions. The new regulation states that “military service alone does not exempt foreigners from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”
Earlier this month, ICE also temporarily detained the wife of another U.S. Army sergeant shortly after their marriage. Annie Ramos, 22, wife of Sergeant Matthew Blank, was imprisoned for five days before being released. Arriving in the United States as a child, Annie Ramos was an undocumented immigrant from Honduras.
