NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A U.S. Army staff sergeant is trying to halt his wife’s deportation after she was detained inside a Louisiana military base where the couple was planning to live together just days after their wedding.
The effort to remove the soldier’s wife, who was born in Honduras and remained in a federal immigration detention center Monday, has drawn backlash from military family advocates who called the detention demoralizing in a time of war and warned that deporting spouses could undermine recruitment.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank said he brought his wife, Annie Ramos, 22, to his base in Fort Polk, Louisiana, last Thursday so that she could begin the process to receive military benefits and take steps toward a green card. The couple married in March.
Federal immigration agents detained Ramos as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, which legal experts say has dispensed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s practice of leniency toward families of military members.
“I never imagined that trying to do the right thing would lead to her being taken away from me,” said Blank, 23. “What was supposed to be the happiest week of our lives has turned into one of the hardest.”
Ramos has been in the U.S. since 2005 but has been fighting for her legal status amid strict immigration policies that have changed under the current administration. Advocates argue that such actions not only impact individual lives but also the morale of military personnel, disrupting family stability which is critical for national security.
The effort to remove the soldier’s wife, who was born in Honduras and remained in a federal immigration detention center Monday, has drawn backlash from military family advocates who called the detention demoralizing in a time of war and warned that deporting spouses could undermine recruitment.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank said he brought his wife, Annie Ramos, 22, to his base in Fort Polk, Louisiana, last Thursday so that she could begin the process to receive military benefits and take steps toward a green card. The couple married in March.
Federal immigration agents detained Ramos as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, which legal experts say has dispensed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s practice of leniency toward families of military members.
“I never imagined that trying to do the right thing would lead to her being taken away from me,” said Blank, 23. “What was supposed to be the happiest week of our lives has turned into one of the hardest.”
Ramos has been in the U.S. since 2005 but has been fighting for her legal status amid strict immigration policies that have changed under the current administration. Advocates argue that such actions not only impact individual lives but also the morale of military personnel, disrupting family stability which is critical for national security.
