Arelys Barahona Martinez: 5 things veterans need to know as they call on ICE to release wife under threat of deportation
U.S. citizens who have served in the U.S. Army for approximately 20 years Texas The National Guard made an urgent appeal to federal immigration authorities to release his wife, who is at risk of being deported to her native Honduras.
Retired Staff Sgt. Wilmer Trujillo said his wife, Arelys Barahona-Martinez, 40, was detained Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a scheduled check-in at an agency office. dallas.
Arelys Barahona-Martinez detained by ICE: 5 things to know as husband seeks release
- Trujillo, 45, told CBS News on Friday that he was “heartbroken” after learning his wife would be “detained and deported.”
- Trujillo said he joined the Army immediately after graduating from high school in the late 1990s. He mentioned that he served in the Army for about four years and then Texas He served an additional 16 years in the National Guard, during which time he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He retires in 2021.
- “I don’t want to hate ice. I don’t want to hate anyone, but yeah, it confuses me. This breaks my heart. Trujillo said. “I love this country because this country broke up my family and took my wife away; I love this country.” “She is my pillar and the pillar of my family.”
- According to legal documents, Trujillo and Barahona-Martinez married in 2020. They live in Princeton, Texas, with Trujillo’s daughter from a previous marriage and Barahona-Martinez’s 20-year-old son. The son, a U.S. citizen, suffers from neurofibromatosis, a disease that causes tumors to develop, including one on his nose. Trujillo noted that they have grown into a close family over the years.
- ICE arrested Barahona-Martinez on June 10, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement provided to CBS News, emphasizing that she entered the United States illegally. The department cited deportation orders dating back more than 20 years. “Barahona-Martinez received full due process and received a final order of deportation from an immigration judge on November 2, 2005,” the Department of Homeland Security said. “The Trump administration will not ignore the rule of law. She will remain in ICE custody pending deportation from the United States”
Barahona Martinez arrested: here’s what her lawyer says
As of Friday, Barahona-Martinez was in ICE custody at the Rattlesnake Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma, according to ICE’s online detainee tracking system.
Barahona-Martinez’s immigration attorney, Mark Shmuley, said his client has no criminal record. He noted that she initially crossed the southern border into the United States illegally in 2005, gave birth to her son there, and then returned to Honduras with him in 2006.
Shmueli confirmed that Barahona-Martinez was issued a deportation order in 2005; however, he noted that the order was issued “in absentia” because she did not attend a hearing of which she was unaware.
According to government documents, Barahona-Martinez illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border for a second time in 2018. Trujillo and Shmuli both said she returned to the U.S. out of desperation, citing the need for extensive medical care for her U.S.-born son. Trujillo also mentioned that gang members in Honduras were trying to recruit his wife’s son.
Several military spouses have been released from ICE custody after media reports and intervention by members of Congress, such as the case of Deisy Rivera-Ortega, who was married to an active-duty Army soldier. She was detained by ICE in April and released last month, but her deportation proceedings are still ongoing.
Shmueli further said that a similar settlement should have been reached in this case, given Barahona-Martinez’s clean criminal record, her marriage to a retired staff sergeant and the health of her American son. He emphasized that there is a viable path for Barahona-Martinez to obtain a green card by marrying a U.S. citizen.
Trujillo said: “Let my wife go”
However, in order for her to be eligible for a green card, her deportation case would have to be reopened in immigration court, invalidating her deportation order. Shmueli noted that there is a request to reconsider the case pending in immigration court and that he also intends to file an application for in-place parole, a specialized program designed to protect certain military spouses or parents from deportation.
Trujillo noted that ICE considers his wife a serious criminal and called on the agency to allow her to continue her immigration case out of custody.
“My message to ICE is: I’m not asking for help. I know a lot of service members are going through this. I’m just asking [ICE] Let my wife go,” he said, “and don’t break up the family. “
