RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Shows Good Morning America ShopGMA Interest Successfully Added We'll notify you here with news about Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Off On Stream on Wife of active-duty Army sergeant deported amid Trump's immigration campaign An advocacy group says some military families are now "living in the shadows."
The wife of an Army sergeant and mother of a 6-year-old was deported on Monday.
Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez confirmed that his wife, Cristy Maryori Villafranca Trejo, was deported to Honduras. Turcios's wife's deportation comes as Trump's immigration crackdown impacts active-duty military spouses.
Turcios Juarez previously told ABC News that ICE officers detained Villafranca outside a Walmart in July as the couple's young daughter watched. Villafranca left Honduras in 2016 due to violent crime in the country, her husband said.
After attending high school in the U.S., he joined the military and became a U.S. citizen in 2024 after a nine-month deployment to the Middle East. Then he began pursuing citizenship for his wife, hoping his service would help expedite her naturalization process, he said.
"She's been a very supportive wife since the first day that I decided to join the military. I was deployed for nine months. She took care of my family," Turcios said of his spouse when she was detained. "She's not a threat to anybody. We're just trying to keep our family together."
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the removal of Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, the wife of an army sergeant.
"On August 24, Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, an illegal alien from Honduras, was removed from the United States in accordance with our laws," a spokesperson for DHS said in a statement.
"On July 11, ICE conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation to arrest Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, an illegal alien from Honduras," the spokesperson added. "Villafranca-Trejo illegally entered the United States in 2016 and was released into the country under the Obama administration."
Turcios' family is hardly alone. President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign has swept up more than 50 parents and spouses of service members during his second term, with at least six deported, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.
Danitza James, CEO of Repatriate Our Patriots, which works with Families United to help active-duty service members and veterans reunite their families, said that, beyond providing legal representation, the organization's only other strategy has been to call Congress to request help.
She said she is currently working with eight active-duty service members and one veteran whose family members have been detained as of Aug. 20. ABC News spoke with two of the families that she is working to unite.
The cases complicate one of the administration's central arguments for its aggressive expansion of immigration enforcement. Trump has repeatedly said ICE is targeting the "worst of the worst," and has described immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as "animals" and "dangerous criminals" that should not be in the country.
An ABC News review of state and federal records did not find criminal records for any of the military spouses named in this story in the states where they live.
"She's been a very supportive wife since the first day that I decided to join the military. I was deployed for nine months. She took care of my family," Turcios said of his spouse. "She's not a threat to anybody. We're just trying to keep our family together."
The Trump administration's detention of undocumented spouses and parents of active-duty service members comes as the U.S. is at war with Iran, leaving troops without the support of their families and shifting their focus away from their military careers, advocacy groups say. Some have been forced to take leave from duty to care for their children in their spouses' absence, according to advocacy groups and families ABC News interviewed.
"There are so many military families of active-duty service members that are living in the shadows of this immigration machine, that is putting them in fear of seeking resources and asking for help, while their service member is actively serving our country, and sacrificing for our nation," said James of Repatriate Our Patriots.
For decades, military families have occupied a protected corner of the immigration system, according to the National Military Family Association. Under policies embraced by Republican and Democratic administrations, the undocumented parents and spouses of service members have generally been shielded from deportation.
Military recruiters have also long promoted military service as a pathway to citizenship, including through programs which can allow undocumented relatives of troops to remain in the country while applying for a green card and work authorization.
The bargain extends to troops themselves. Green card holders can join the U.S. military and troops can apply for naturalization after a year of honorable service, an incentive that stretches back to the Civil War. During World War I, Congress went further, streamlining the citizenship process for troops whose enlistment could effectively mean automatic citizenship.
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws," a DHS spokesperson said in response to the recent arrest by ICE of the father of an active-duty sailor for alleged immigration violations. "Military service by an immediate relative does not automatically grant parole, lawful status, or immunity from immigration enforcement."
Racial and ethnic minorities are making up a growing share of the military. In the Army, the Pentagon's largest service by far, Hispanic recruits grew from about 19% of new enlistees in 2020 to nearly 27% last year, according to internal service data reviewed by ABC News.
Naturalizations through military service have also more than tripled...
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