Jose Serrano has served in the United States Army for 27 years. He deployed to Afghanistan three times. He is a Sergeant First Class, which means he’s spent nearly three decades doing what this country asked of him. On April 14, 2026, he brought his wife, Deisy Rivera Ortega, to an immigration office in El Paso, Texas, for a scheduled appointment to apply for Parole in Place — a program specifically designed to protect the spouses of active-duty military members. ICE agents arrested her in the hallway.
“A person opened the door, escorted us through the hallway, and at the end of the hallway, my wife got arrested,” Serrano told the AP. “Arrested without any order, any warrant. They took away my wife. They don’t tell me anything.”
Service: 27 years active duty U.S. Army. Three tours in Afghanistan.
Wife: Deisy Rivera Ortega, originally from El Salvador. In the U.S. since 2016. Married Serrano in 2022.
Legal status: In December 2019, an immigration judge granted Rivera Ortega protection under the Convention Against Torture, blocking deportation to El Salvador. She held a valid work permit. She was employed at two hotels inside Fort Bliss. She had a military spouse ID.
Detention: Arrested April 14 at an El Paso immigration office during a scheduled appointment for Parole in Place. ICE told her she’d be deported to Mexico — not El Salvador, where she’s from — because the Convention Against Torture blocks El Salvador deportation. She has no ties to Mexico.
DHS response: Called her a “criminal illegal alien” convicted of illegal entry (a federal misdemeanor). Said she received “full due process.”
Two Cases. Same Pattern.
Serrano’s wife isn’t the first. Twelve days earlier, on April 2, ICE agents detained Annie Ramos, 22, inside Fort Polk, Louisiana — a military base. Ramos had married Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank just days before and was there to begin the process of registering as a military spouse and getting benefits. Federal immigration agents entered the base and took her.
Service: Active duty U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Wife: Annie Yaritza Ramos Alvarado, 22, born in Honduras. Entered the U.S. in 2005 at less than two years old. Married Blank in March 2026.
Legal status: A removal order was issued in 2005 after her family failed to appear at an immigration hearing — when she was under two years old.
Detention: Arrested April 2 inside Fort Polk while registering as a military spouse. Later released with a GPS monitor under order of supervision while removal proceedings continue.
DHS response: “She has no legal status to be in this country.”
Two active-duty soldiers. Two wives. Both detained at the exact moments they were trying to do the right thing — one registering as a military spouse at a base, the other attending an immigration appointment for the legal pathway designed for people like her. Both arrested by the very government their husbands serve.
The Policy Changed
This isn’t random cruelty. It’s deliberate policy. In April 2025, the Department of Homeland Security eliminated a 2022 policy that considered military service of an immediate family member to be a “significant mitigating factor” in immigration enforcement decisions. The new policy states: “Military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”
Before this change, ICE historically exercised discretion to refrain from arresting immediate relatives of U.S. service members absent national security or public safety concerns. Military recruiters promoted programs like Parole in Place and deferred action as pathways for military spouses. The implicit deal was clear: serve your country, and we won’t deport your family.
That deal is dead. The administration that called fallen soldiers “suckers and losers” is now deporting their wives.
“They Don’t Care, Sir”
Serrano told CBS News he showed officials his military identification and his wife’s military spouse ID before the arrest. He explained his service. He told them about Afghanistan, about his 27 years, about the Parole in Place application. None of it mattered.
“They really don’t care, sir. They said ‘we cannot send her to El Salvador, but we gonna send her to Mexico.’” — Sgt. First Class Jose Serrano
Let that sink in. A 27-year Army veteran — the kind of person who shows up in recruitment ads, the kind they put on posters — stood in a federal building with his credentials and begged them not to deport his wife. They told him they’d send her to a country she’s never been to.
Rivera Ortega was born in El Salvador. She has no ties to Mexico. Active-duty military personnel are restricted from traveling to Mexico. If she’s deported there, Serrano cannot visit her. He cannot see his wife. Because of regulations designed to protect soldiers — from the same government that’s deporting her.
“Since this happened, I’m sleeping only two hours a day, two hours a night,” Serrano told CBS. He said his PTSD and depression, which he had gotten under control, have come back since his wife’s detention.
The Convention Against Torture Doesn’t Matter
Rivera Ortega was granted protection under the Convention Against Torture in December 2019 by an immigration judge. This is a United Nations treaty. The United States is a signatory. It means a judge determined she would face torture if returned to El Salvador, and therefore cannot be deported there.
DHS’s solution: deport her to Mexico instead. A country she has no connection to. A country where she knows no one. Under third-country deportation rules that the administration only recently reinstated. The Convention Against Torture was supposed to be a shield. DHS turned it into a technicality — you can’t go back to your country, so we’ll dump you somewhere else.
Her attorney, Matthew Kozik — himself a former Army judge advocate and combat veteran with a Bronze Star — filed a habeas petition in federal court. “What is going on is absurd,” he said.
What This Does to Recruitment
Military immigration law expert Margaret Stock put it plainly: cases like these destroy recruitment. For decades, the implicit promise was that serving your country came with protections for your family. Military recruiters promoted immigration pathways. Parole in Place wasn’t a loophole — it was a policy. The message was: we take care of our own.
Now the message is: we’ll arrest your wife in the hallway of the immigration office where she came to apply for the program we told her about. We’ll call her a “criminal illegal alien” for a federal misdemeanor. We’ll deport her to a country she’s never been to while her husband serves his third decade in uniform. And we’ll tell him: “Military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”
You can’t prepare for a potential draft, send soldiers to die in Iran, and simultaneously deport their families. That’s not a policy contradiction. That’s contempt.
Sources
- CBS News: SFC Jose Serrano (27 years, Afghanistan) says wife Deisy Rivera Ortega arrested April 14 at El Paso immigration office during Parole in Place appointment. Convention Against Torture protection since 2019. Valid work permit. Military spouse ID. DHS called her “criminal illegal alien.” April 20, 2026.
- Associated Press / myMotherLode: “ICE detains wife of Army sergeant as military family leniency wanes.” April 2025 DHS policy eliminated military family protections. Habeas petition filed. Rivera Ortega held at El Paso Service Processing Center. April 22, 2026.
- LA Times: SSG Matthew Blank’s wife Annie Ramos, 22, detained inside Fort Polk April 2 while registering as military spouse. Removal order from 2005 when she was under 2. Military advocates warn deportations damage recruitment. April 7, 2026.
- Military Times: Ramos released with GPS monitor April 8. DHS: “She has no legal status.” Removal proceedings continue. April 8, 2026.
- Daily Kos: Pattern analysis of ICE targeting military spouses. Serrano suffering PTSD relapse. Third-country deportations recently reinstated. “ICE is out of control right now, sir.” April 20, 2026.
- CBS News (video): Exclusive interview with SFC Serrano. Shows wife’s military ID, work permit. Wife was employed at two hotels inside Fort Bliss. Serrano: “ICE is out of control right now, sir.” DHS: convicted of illegal entry, “pending deportation.” April 20, 2026.