ICE detains the wife of an Army sergeant in Texas as military family leniency wanes

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant was being held Tuesday at an immigration detention facility in El Paso, Texas, amid signs that the Trump administration is dialing back leniency toward immigrant family members of military personnel and veterans.

Jose Serrano, an active duty soldier who served three tours in Afghanistan, said immigration agents arrested his wife April 14 as they attended an appointment with immigration services to take steps toward her permanent residency.

"A person opened the door, escorted us through the hallway, and at the end of the hallway, my wife got arrested," Serrano said. "Arrested without any order, any warrant ... They took away my wife. They don't tell me anything."

Since then, El Salvador native Deisy Rivera Ortega has challenged her detention in U.S. District Court and requested an order to block her deportation to Mexico - where she does not have ties and visits by active duty U.S. troops are restricted.

Attorney Matthew James Kozik said Rivera Ortega held a valid work permit and was previously granted a withholding of removal to El Salvador.

The Department of Homeland Security said in an email that Rivera Ortega entered the U.S. illegally in 2016 and that a judge issued a final order of removal in December 2019.

"Work authorization does not confer any legal status to be in the country. Rivera-Ortega remains in ICE custody pending removal," the agency said. The agency did not address whether Rivera Ortega might be deported to Mexico.

Rivera Ortega was being held at El Paso Service Processing Center, where Serrano says he was able to visit Sunday and talk to his wife through a plastic pane.

She applied for consideration with her husband under the "parole in place" policy that previously provided a possibly expedited pathway to permanent residency for spouses of service members.

But last April, DHS eliminated a 2022 policy that considered military service of an immediate family member to be a "significant mitigating factor" in deciding whether or not to pursue immigration enforcement. The administration's new policy states that "military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws."