What is legal? What is necessary? What is humane?
Is what is legally allowed really necessary when it is not humane?
These types of questions are on the minds and consciences of Americans who have heard about the Paola Clouatre case – the wife of a Marine Corps veteran who was recently detained by ICE.
The Trump Administration is making a push for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers to arrest 3,000 people per day. While most Americans think that those 3,000 people are those with criminal backgrounds, thousands of people without a criminal history are being detained and put into ICE detention daily.
Paola Clouatre is one of those people.
A breastfeeding mom of a three-month-old and a two-year-old, children she has with her Marine husband Adrian, Paola was brought to the United States as a teenager, and was at a green card meeting with her husband when ICE detained her.
Paola and her Marine veteran husband thought they had done everything correctly – they got married and he filed for his wife for permanent residence, but a few months ago they found out that there was a deportation order for Paola from 2018 – an order she had no idea about. She had been a teenager at the time it was given, and is estranged from her mom, whose asylum case they had both been under.
Paola’s husband Adrian said he supports deporting criminals from the country, but he thought people like his wife, especially people married to U.S. citizens, would be safe from ICE detainment. Many people in the U.S. military have been advertised at for years on the ways that joining the service can help their families with immigration issues. But a February 28 Memo from USCIS states that groups who received more grace in the past from deportation orders (like military spouses) will no longer experience that lenience.
While only time will tell what the outcome will be for the Clouatre family, if you are an active-duty service member, or a veteran of the Armed Forces, it is important to tell your congresspeople how you feel about this important issue. While we don’t believe that any family should have to be separated, it’s especially important that our military families feel supported, regardless of their immigration status.
If you need assistance filing for an immigration petition, you can reach us at (757) 422-8472, or send us a message on our website. You can also schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys by clicking on this link.
