It’s déjà vu all over again for families of some American service personnel

Guest Editorial by Jim Jones

Sgt. Cuauhtemoc “Temo” Juarez served on three continents as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. After that, he joined the Florida National Guard and served a deployment in Iraq. Nevertheless, his wife of 18 years, Alejandra, was deported to Mexico because she had crossed unlawfully into the U.S. in the late 1990s. Alejandra and Temo had two daughters, both of whom are American citizens. Alejandra took the younger daughter with her. She left the older one with Temo, fearing for her safety in Mexico.

Temo and Alejandro tried every avenue of relief to stop the deportation, but to no avail. Temo’s service to this country didn’t count for anything. The past governmental policy of promoting military service as protection for families lacking legal status was cast aside. The fact that Alejandro was a valued and contributing member of her community and church in Florida was disregarded. Appeals by Congressmen and veteran organizations fell upon the deaf ears of the Trump administration.

The title of this opinion piece invoked Yogi Berra’s famous quote about a situation being "déjà vu all over again" because Alejandro’s deportation took place during Donald Trump’s first term. On August 3, 2018, USA Today published my opinion column, calling out Trump for mistreating the Juarez and other military families. It was titled, “It’s time for America to stop thanking our veterans for serving, then deporting their wives.” Trump’s disregard of the families of servicemen and veterans has gotten much worse during this term.

It is high time to recognize what is as true today as it was seven years ago. As any active-duty service member or veteran who has been deployed overseas can attest, you cannot give 100 percent in service to your country without the steadfast support of your family back home. Upon return, families are key to helping service members reintegrate into the civilian world, especially when many of them suffer from combat stress, PTSD or other physical or mental health issues.

Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, we have seen an escalation of utter disregard for the plight of military and veteran families. Trump was elected largely because he promised to remove dangerous criminals from the county. The great majority of those presently being rounded up and deported by ICE are not violent criminals–just undocumented workers doing work that few citizens are willing to do–working farms, milking cows, caring for kids and the elderly, cleaning hotel rooms and doing yard work. It matters little whether they might be military family members.

Just this last May, ICE detained Paola Clouatre, whose husband Adrian is a Marine Corps veteran. Paola was still breastfeeding the couple’s 3-month-old daughter Lyn. She was in the process of getting a green card to work when she discovered that her asylum-seeking mother, who brought her to the country as a minor, had failed to show up for an immigration hearing years ago. The mother’s failure, which was unknown to Paola, was nevertheless held against her. Due to a policy change implemented on February 28, families of veterans and military personnel are no longer exempt from deportation.

Army Sgt. Ayssac Correa, stationed near Houston, learned on March 13 that his wife Shirly had been swept up by ICE agents at her job. They were in the process of trying to get Shirly on the path to citizenship and assumed that his active-duty status would protect her. Just like an active-duty Coast Guardsman learned in April, when his Argentine wife was arrested by ICE, service wives are fair game. The Australian wife of an Army lieutenant was sent back to Australia when they tried to get together in Hawaii in May.

Love knows no boundaries. Service personnel frequently marry citizens of countries where they are stationed and they have not had to worry about their spouses being subject to deportation until these Trump years. I was stationed in Okinawa for three months before going to Vietnam. My immediate commanding officer, Captain Dietmar W.L. Zurell, was a German national, married to an Okinawan woman. He was working toward U.S. citizenship and never expressed any worry about the couple being able to move to the United States. And so it has been, until the Trump years.

It has been estimated that there are up to 80,000 undocumented spouses or parents of military members living in the U.S. These service personnel should not have to spend every waking minute fretting over the immigration status of their loved ones. Stories like the undocumented father of three U.S. Marines being “taken down, pinned and repeatedly punched by masked ICE agents” in California are a disgrace to the America that I love. Enough!

Ending on a happier note. Justice finally prevailed for Temo and Alejandra Juarez. About four months after Joe Biden was sworn in as President, their family was reunited in the U.S. Hopefully, they will stay that way.

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About the Author

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017).