The spouse of a serving member of the U.S. Army, a sergeant with 27 years of service, is potentially facing deportation to a nation unrelated to her, following her detainment during a standard immigration meeting the prior week.Matthew Kozik
The spouse of a serving member of the U.S. Army, a sergeant with 27 years of service, is potentially facing deportation to a nation unrelated to her, following her detainment during a standard immigration meeting the prior week.
Deisy Fidelina Rivera Ortega was taken into custody on April 14 in El Paso, Texas, whilst attending a meeting for "Parole in Place," a program envisioned to enable undocumented relatives of service members to lawfully reside in the U.S.
Rivera Ortega is married to Sgt. 1st Class Jose Serrano, a U.S. Army sergeant positioned at Fort Bliss who has been sent to Afghanistan on three occasions. He informed ABC News that he and his wife have been “abiding by all regulations.”
“She is either at her job or at church,” Serrano stated. “That is my wife, Daisy’s, existence.”
However, Serrano noted that last week, shortly after their arrival for their scheduled time at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services location, unidentified individuals apprehended his wife.
“At the end of the hallway, my wife was taken into custody… they placed handcuffs on her and escorted her away,” Serrano revealed to ABC News. “And nobody offered me any information, even while I was repeatedly asking, ‘Hey, what is transpiring? What is happening with her?’”
Rivera Ortega — who is currently employed by IHG Army Hotels at Fort Bliss — possesses a valid work permit extending through 2030 and had previously been authorized withholding of removal from her country of origin, El Salvador, as per documents reviewed by ABC News.
The spouse of a serving member of the U.S. Army, a sergeant with 27 years of service, is potentially facing deportation to a nation unrelated to her, following her detainment during a standard immigration meeting the prior week.Matthew Kozik
She is now at risk of being deported to Mexico, a nation with which the couple has no connection, Serrano explained. He informed ABC News that, as a serving sergeant, it would likely be impossible for him to go to Mexico were his wife to be deported there.
“Within the Army, traveling to Mexico is severely restricted,” Matthew Kozik, the couple’s legal representative, disclosed to ABC News. “He would be unable to even visit his wife.”
Kozik noted that Rivera Ortega is currently being held at the El Paso Service Processing Center.
“She was taken into custody at a federal government site,” Kozik said. “They wouldn’t allow anyone to pose questions, and she was escorted away; we have not seen her since.”
In a statement to ABC News, the Department of Homeland Security communicated that Rivera Ortega entered the nation unlawfully and was given a final order for her removal.
“Rivera Ortega remains in ICE custody while awaiting removal,” a DHS representative stated.
Based on court documents, Kozik argues that Rivera Ortega was never issued a final order for removal and maintains that, because an immigration judge authorized withholding of removal from El Salvador for her in 2019, she is not subject to immediate removal.
“She possesses the entitlement to dispute those third-party designations… she has an entitlement to contest any termination,” Kozik asserted. “We are operating entirely without information, which is why we’ve had to seek federal court intervention to halt this.”
Serrano told ABC News that he has been receiving treatment from a doctor for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and that his condition had been stable until his wife’s detainment last week.
“I cannot find sleep even with medicinal aids; I cannot even engage in reading,” he conveyed to ABC News. “It’s incredibly distressing and agonizing to be rendered helpless.”
Sourse: abcnews.go.com