An active-duty U.S. Army sergeant who has served in the military for 27 years, including in Afghanistan, said he still does not "understand why" his wife was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week in Texas.
In an interview with CBS News Sunday, Sgt. First Class Jose Serrano, 51, said his wife, Deisy Rivera Ortega, was arrested by ICE on April 14 during an appointment at an immigration office in El Paso.
Rivera Ortega, who married Serrano in 2022, has been in the U.S. for over a decade, since 2016. She was granted a legal protection in 2019 that prohibits her deportation to her native El Salvador, U.S. immigration court documents show. But the Department of Homeland Security told CBS News that Rivera Ortega entered the U.S. illegally, and Serrano said his wife has been informed she could be deported to a third country, like Mexico, where she has no ties.
ICE's online detainee tracking system indicated Rivera Ortega was being held at the agency's El Paso processing center as of Sunday evening.
"I don't really understand why, because she followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one," Serrano said, noting his wife had an active work permit at the time of her arrest.
"I love the Army. (The) Army helped me out for almost 28 years. It's not the Army, sir. It's ICE," Serrano said later in the interview. "ICE is out of control right now, sir, taking away rights, as soldiers, that we have."
If his wife is sent to Mexico, Serrano said he would likely not be able to see her without jeopardizing his military career, given restrictions on service members traveling to Mexico.
"We don't know nobody in Mexico," he said. "Plus, as a military, we're not allowed to go to Mexico."
Serrano, who was born in Puerto Rico, said his wife's detention has exacerbated his mental health challenges, noting he has been treated previously for a traumatic brain injury, PTSD and depression.
"Since this happened, I'm sleeping only two hours a day, two hours a night," he added.
Source: Drudge Report
