The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant first class with 27 years of service, including three deployments to Afghanistan, will not be released from ICE custody after all and now faces possible deportation, her family and attorney said Wednesday, April 23.
Deisy Rivera Ortega, a native of El Salvador, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on April 14 during an appointment at an immigration office here related to her pending application for Parole in Place.
The program is intended to provide deportation protections and a path to legal residency for the spouses of active-duty service members.
ICE changes tune
Her husband, Sgt. First Class Jose Serrano, 51, had told CBS News earlier Wednesday that officials informed him she would be released from an ICE detention center in El Paso by the end of the day. Hours later, that changed.
Attorney Matthew James Kozik said he spoke with Rivera Ortega earlier in the day, and she was “elated” at the news of her release.
Then DHS and ICE officials told him she would not be released into the United States but would instead be deported, possibly to Mexico.
“As you can imagine, the family is heartbroken,” Kozik said.
Serrano and Rivera Ortega married in 2022. She has lived in the U.S. since 2016. Immigration court records show she received a 2019 deportation order after a conviction for illegal entry, a federal misdemeanor.
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At the same time, she was granted withholding of removal, which bars her deportation back to El Salvador because of the risk of harm there.
DHS has said Rivera Ortega remains in custody pending removal. The agency has not said publicly where she would be sent, but Serrano said officials told him it could be a third country, such as Mexico, where she has no family ties.
“She followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one,” Serrano told CBS News in an earlier interview. He said she had a valid work permit at the time of her arrest.
Kozik said he is preparing a court challenge to block the deportation. A habeas petition has already been filed in federal court, arguing the detention is unlawful.
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The case comes as the Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement, including against some undocumented spouses of military members who had applied for protections through programs like Parole in Place.
Serrano has said the couple showed their military identification cards during the April 14 appointment before agents took his wife into custody. He has called the situation painful after decades of service to the country.
Rivera Ortega remains held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in El Paso.
