... An estimated 94,000 veterans do not have U.S. citizenship, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not report the veteran status of people who have been deported, so the exact number of deported veterans is almost impossible to know. Some organizations have reported there have been hundreds of cases of deported veterans—and this is likely a gross underestimate.
My name is Alex Murillo, and I am one of those deported veterans.
My story is one of honor, sacrifice, and injustice. Born in Nogales, Mexico, I came to the U.S. as an infant and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. I went on to proudly serve in Iraq as a jet mechanic in the U.S. Navy. In 2011, I was deported to Mexico due to a nonviolent offense after struggling with the challenges many veterans face when transitioning back to civilian life. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “1 in 3 veterans have been arrested or jailed at least once, often for crimes stemming directly from traumatic experiences related to their military service.” For noncitizen veterans, criminal convictions—including for nonviolent and misdemeanor crimes—can result in mandatory deportation. Like many other deported veterans, I was stripped of my home, family, and the nation I swore an oath to defend. I spent over a decade south of the border, advocating for other deported veterans while enduring the pain of being cast aside by the country I once served.
After years of applications, lawyers, and waiting, I was able to return home to Arizona, and I am now receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. But countless veterans remain stranded abroad, living as exiles from the nation they fought for. Under the Biden administration, efforts were made to return “military service members, veterans, and their immediate family members who were unjustly removed,” according to former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It’s a very different reality for the more than 40,000 noncitizens serving today under the Trump administration ...
https://prismreports.org/2025/04/07/deported-veterans-undocumented-immigrants/
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