Defense

US soldier says wife detained by ICE: ‘She followed the rules’

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by Sophie Brams - 04/21/26 10:23 AM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 04/21/26 10:23 AM ET

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The wife of a U.S. Army soldier is reportedly facing deportation after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during an immigration appointment in Texas last week.

Sgt. First Class Jose Serrano, 51, told CBS News Sunday that his wife, Deisy Rivera Ortega, was arrested on April 14 at an immigration office in El Paso, Texas. The couple were married in 2022.

The outlet, citing U.S. immigration court documents, reported that Rivera Ortega, an El Salvador native, has been in the U.S. since 2016 and was granted legal protection in 2019 that prohibits her from being deported to her home country.

Her husband noted that she had an active work permit at the time of her arrest, according to CBS News.

“I don’t really understand why, because she followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one,” said Serrano, an active-duty soldier who has served 27 years, including in Afghanistan.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Hill in a statement on Tuesday that Rivera Ortega was previously convicted of illegally entering the country and released on bond. It said she received “full due process” and has been on a final order of removal from a judge since December 2019.

“Work authorization does not confer any legal status to be in the country,” a spokesperson said. “Rivera-Ortega remains in ICE custody pending removal.”

Serrano told CBS News he was informed that his wife could be deported to a third country, such as Mexico.

“We don’t know nobody in Mexico,” Serrano said. “Plus, as a military, we’re not allowed to go to Mexico.”

U.S. service members are generally permitted to travel to Mexico but must follow strict guidelines when doing so, including notifying local counterintelligence representatives of when and where they intend to go, according to a 2019 notice from the Air Force. All personnel are also required to avoid certain states in Mexico, even in transit.

Rivera Ortega is at least the second spouse of a U.S. Army soldier to be detained by federal immigration authorities this month.

Annie Ramos, 22, was detained April 2 after she went to a military base in Fort Polk, La., with her newlywed husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank, to complete paperwork to register as a military spouse and ultimately obtain a green card. She was released from federal custody after five days.

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.

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

It came as the agency began pursuing a sweeping immigration crackdown aimed at executing on President Trump’s campaign promise for mass deportations, a push that has been the subject of intense scrutiny throughout his second term.

Matthew Kozik, an attorney helping Serrano and his wife, has filed a habeas petition in federal court arguing that Rivera Ortega’s detention is unlawful, according to CBS News.

Meanwhile, Serrano told the outlet that the ordeal has taken a toll on his physical and mental health.

“Since this happened, I’m sleeping only two hours a day, two hours a night,” he said, adding that he had previously been treated for a traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

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