Administration

Wife of soldier detained on military base released from custody

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by Sophie Brams - 04/08/26 9:58 AM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 04/08/26 9:58 AM ET

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The 22-year-old wife of a U.S. Army staff sergeant who faced deportation after being detained at a Louisiana military base last week has been released from federal custody, according to multiple reports.

Annie Ramos was released on Tuesday after spending five days at an immigration detention center, according to The New York Times, which first reported her arrest last Thursday. She has an ankle monitor and must report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) every week.

The Honduran national, who came to the U.S. as a toddler, was detained April 2 after she went to a base in Fort Polk, La., with her newlywed husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank. The couple, who were married in March, traveled to the fort to complete paperwork to register Ramos as a military spouse and ultimately obtain a green card.

She was taken into custody by ICE officers on a final deportation order that had been issued in April 2005, when she was younger than two years old.

“All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby,” Ramos said in a statement to The Associated Press after her release. “I want to finish my degree, continue my education, and serve my community — just as my husband serves our country with honor.”

The AP reported earlier that Ramos applied to receive Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2020, but her application was in “limbo” due to ongoing legal challenges to the program.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told The Hill that Ramos “was issued a final order of removal by a judge” and that the Trump administration “is not going to ignore the rule of law.”

DHS scrapped a 2022 policy last April that considered an immediate family member’s military service to be a “significant mitigating factor” when deciding whether to take civil immigration enforcement action, according to the AP. It came as the agency began pursuing a sweeping immigration crackdown aimed at executing on President Trump’s campaign promise for mass deportations.

The new DHS policy states that “military service alone does not automatically exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”

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