The U.S. Is Deporting Its Own Veterans
They Served. Now They and Their Families Are Being Deported.
This week, the country marked Veterans Day with parades, speeches, and thanks for those who served. But immigrant veterans who served this country are being arrested and deported, and so are the family members the military promised to protect.
For more than a decade, the U.S. military has told recruits that service would help protect their families. Since 2013, a policy called Military Parole in Place has allowed the undocumented spouses, parents, and children of service members and veterans to remain in the country and apply for a green card without leaving the U.S. [5] That promise carries real weight. In January, the New York Times reported that young U.S. citizens in rural Oregon are joining the National Guard specifically to shield their undocumented parents from deportation, with recruiters pointing to Parole in Place as a reason to enlist. [3]
Now the administration is arresting and deporting veterans themselves, along with the relatives that promise was meant to protect.
What the numbers show
According to Department of Homeland Security data released in March by Senator Elizabeth Warren and other members of Congress, in the first year of the second Trump administration [2]:ICE arrested 125 veterans, nearly two-thirds of whom had no active criminal warrant.ICE attempted to deport 282 veterans and family members of veterans.More than 100 immediate relatives of veterans were referred for deportation after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied their requests for Parole in Place.
Veterans themselves are being targeted. The New York Times counted at least 34 veterans placed in deportation proceedings year to date as of March 2026. [6] One is Godfrey Wade, an honorably discharged Army veteran who has lived in Georgia for 50 years. He was detained after a 2025 traffic stop over a removal order tied to a bounced check and a misdemeanor from nearly two decades earlier, and his attorney says he never received notice of the hearing. By February, he had spent nearly five months in ICE custody and faced deportation to Jamaica. [10]
So are their families. As of August, an Associated Press investigation had found at least 52 parents and spouses of active-duty troops detained since January 2025, with at least six deported and eight still in custody, many picked up while applying for Parole in Place or at immigration appointments. The government does not track these cases, so the true number is likely higher. [7] In Las Vegas, disabled Marine veteran Patrick Baja waited nearly six years for his wife Diana Butnarciuc's immigration interview. She was arrested when she arrived in February 2026, despite having no criminal record, and deported in April. [8] The BBC reported a similar case: the wife of retired Staff Sgt. Wilmer Trujillo was detained at what the family believed was a routine check-in. "They're breaking my family up," he said. [9]
A promise quietly withdrawn
In 2022, ICE policy called military service a "significant mitigating factor" in enforcement decisions. In 2025, the administration reversed course: ICE now says military service alone does not exempt anyone from immigration consequences, and DHS says a relative's service does not automatically protect family members either. [4]
The program is also harder to use. Processing times for Parole in Place nearly tripled, from 4.5 months in fiscal year 2025 to 12.5 months in fiscal year 2026. The Marine Corps and Navy say they no longer promote it, yet the Army and National Guard still advertise it to recruits. [4] That means young people may be enlisting today based on a protection the government is no longer reliably providing.
Not a new problem, but a growing one
Veterans have been deported for years. A 2021 report from Senator Tammy Duckworth's office, citing government auditors, found that ICE deported 92 veterans between 2013 and 2018, often without following its own policy of reviewing military service, and the real number is likely higher. [1] What is new is the scale: veterans arrested with no criminal warrant, and families who were explicitly promised protection.
Immigrants have served in every American war. Honoring veterans should mean more than a single day of thanks. At the very least our government should be keeping the promises made to them and to the families they left at home when they deployed.
Resources
If you or someone you know is a veteran, service member, or military family member facing immigration consequences, these organizations can help:
Repatriate Our Patriots works nationally to bring deported veterans home, help them reintegrate, and advocate against future deportations, offering mental health, housing, and legal resources to veterans regardless of citizenship status.
Immigrant Defenders Law Center: Deported Veterans provides legal help to deported veterans and veterans facing deportation in California.
Veterans Advocacy Services helps veterans in every state and abroad resolve medical, economic, housing, and VA benefits problems.
Massachusetts Office of the Veteran Advocate is an independent state agency that helps Massachusetts veterans and their families access the benefits and services they are owed.
Sources
1. Office of Senator Tammy Duckworth, Immigrant Veterans: Deported by the Same Nation They Sacrificed to Defend (June 2021). https://repatriateourpatriots.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Immigrant-Veterans-Deported-by-the-Same-Nation-They-Sacrificed-to-Defend.pdf
2. Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren, "Warren Releases New DHS Data Revealing Trump Admin Targeting Veterans, Families for Deportation After Promising Protections" (March 24, 2026). https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-releases-new-dhs-data-revealing-trump-admin-targeting-veterans-families-for-deportation-after-promising-protections-slams-trump-betrayal/
3. Greg Jaffe, "U.S. Citizens Are Joining the Military to Protect Undocumented Parents," New York Times (January 12, 2026). https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/us/politics/oregon-guard-undocumented-parents.html
4. Eleanor Fitzgerald, "The U.S. military has long advertised pathways to citizenship for service members and families. Is that changing?" San Antonio Report (September 8, 2026). https://sanantonioreport.org/military-citizenship-service-members-texas-san-antonio-whats-changed/
5. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration Options for Family of Certain Military Members and Veterans (brochure). https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/brochures/Brochure-Immigration_Options_for_Family_of_Certain_Military_Members_and_Veterans.pdf
6. New York Times, "34 Former Military Members Were Put on Deportation Track in the Past Year" (March 24, 2026). https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/us/politics/veterans-deport-immigrants-trump.html
7. Associated Press, "Trump's immigration crackdown has detained more than 50 military spouses and parents" (August 5, 2026). https://apnews.com/article/military-families-immigration-trump-detained-deported-3337173bff1f06153738c217da52e846
8. Isabella Aldrete, "'The stakes are life or death': Fear of deportation looms for some veterans in Nevada," The Nevada Independent (July 5, 2026). https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/the-stakes-are-life-or-death-fear-of-deportation-looms-for-some-veterans-in-nevada
9. BBC News, "ICE detains wife of US veteran in latest detention of military spouse." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwglled85xo
10. CBS News Atlanta, "Georgia army veteran faces deportation after 50 years in U.S." (February 5, 2026). https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/georgia-veteran-to-be-deported/