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 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.
CBS News
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.
ICE detentions like these are increasing
Historically, ICE has exercised its discretion to refrain from arresting immediate relatives of U.S. service members, absent national security or public safety concerns. But detentions of immigrant spouses and parents of U.S. service members have become more common under the second Trump administration, which has eliminated Biden-era limits on ICE operations and broadened who is eligible for arrest and deportation.
DHS has said those cases have involved people with deportation orders or who are otherwise in the U.S. illegally.
In a statement to CBS News, DHS said Rivera Ortega was ordered deported on Dec. 12, 2019 after receiving “full due process.” It also called her a “criminal illegal alien” from El Salvador, saying she was convicted of illegal entry into the U.S., a federal misdemeanor offense.Â
“Rivera-Ortega remains in ICE custody pending removal,” DHS added.
Government documents reviewed by CBS News show Rivera Ortega was summoned to the El Paso immigration office for an interview related to an application for Parole in Place, a special program designed to offer deportation protections to military spouses or parents who are in the U.S. without legal status. If granted, Parole in Place can also help those spouses or parents obtain legal permanent residency.
Serrano said he submitted a Parole in Place application on behalf of his wife last year, and that the case remains pending. He added that he told officials at the immigration office about his military service before his wife was detained last week, and that he was not given an explanation following the arrest.
“They really don’t care, sir. They said ‘we cannot send her to El Salvador, but we gonna send her to Mexico,'” he said.
In December 2019, an immigration judge granted Rivera Ortega protection under the Convention Against Torture, a United Nations treaty designed to protect people who could be tortured if deported. That protection has blocked her deportation to El Salvador and allowed her to obtain a permit to work in the U.S. lawfully. Serrano said his wife had been working at the two hotels inside Fort Bliss before her detention. CBS News reviewed her military ID, which labels her the spouse of an active-duty Army soldier.
Those granted protection under the Convention Against Torture are simultaneously ordered deported, though that deportation is deferred. And while the protection shields beneficiaries from being sent to their native countries, it does not offer them a pathway to U.S. citizenship or prevent the government from deporting them to third countries.
Over the past year, the Trump administration has expanded detentions of individuals granted those limited immigration protections, seeking to deport them to countries that are not their own.
Matthew Kozik, an attorney helping Serrano and his wife, said he filed a habeas petition in federal court, arguing that Rivera Ortega’s detention is unlawful. “I served the Army as a judge advocate for 10 years. And as a judge advocate and a combat veteran, bronze star service member, what is going on is absurd,” Kozik said.
Danitza James, a U.S. military veteran and president of the group Repatriate Our Veterans, said ICE’s actions were creating “uncertainty” for service members and their families.
“When the promise to protect those who serve is delayed, military readiness suffers, because a force cannot be mission-ready when its families are left in limbo,” she said.
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