Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

brooklynite

(93,873 posts)
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:08 PM Mar 2018

US Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan has been deported to Mexico

Source: CNN

A US Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan has been deported to Mexico, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

The deportation follows an earlier decision by US authorities to deny Miguel Perez's citizenship application because of a felony drug conviction, despite his service and the PTSD he says it caused.

Perez, 39, was escorted across the US-Mexico border from Texas and handed over to Mexican authorities Friday, ICE said in a statement.

Perez, his family and supporters, who include Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, had argued that his wartime service to the country had earned him the right to stay in the United States and to receive mental health treatment for the PTSD and substance abuse.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/us-veteran-deported-to-mexico/index.html

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
US Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan has been deported to Mexico (Original Post) brooklynite Mar 2018 OP
That is so fucking horrible and unfair! 50 Shades Of Blue Mar 2018 #1
UNH Leghorn21 Mar 2018 #2
all his legal options? The kid should have recieved his damn 'Papers' Volaris Mar 2018 #4
The next time some jackass GOP thug asks "why do liberals hate America?"... Moostache Mar 2018 #3
"Felony drug conviction" Jake Stern Mar 2018 #5
Do you have any proof of those assertions? groundloop Mar 2018 #6
If you read the article you would have your answer neohippie Mar 2018 #9
Six of one, half a dozen of the other... LanternWaste Mar 2018 #7
Then again I'm not the one defending a drug trafficker with snark Jake Stern Mar 2018 #10
Can he sue U.S. government for breach of contract? otchmoson Mar 2018 #8
Afghanistan War Veterans Deportation Is a Shocking Betrayal, Senator Says Judi Lynn Mar 2018 #11
Afghan war vet deported to Mexico and left 'homeless and penniless,' his Chicago family says Judi Lynn Mar 2018 #12
He's lucky because if Drumpf humbled_opinion Mar 2018 #13

Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
2. UNH
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:10 PM
Mar 2018

“This case is a tragic example of what can happen when national immigration policies are based more in hate than on logic and ICE doesn't feel accountable to anyone," Duckworth said in a statement following reports of Perez's deportation. "At the very least, Miguel should have been able to exhaust all of his legal options before being rushed out of the country under a shroud of secrecy."

Volaris

(10,260 posts)
4. all his legal options? The kid should have recieved his damn 'Papers'
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:25 PM
Mar 2018

the MOMENT he got off the plane that brought him back from an American Combat Zone. His Commanding Officer should have been there with that shit in one hand, and a VA card and a Thank You in the other.
This kid got shot at for us.

Fuck ICE; this is bullshit.

Moostache

(9,895 posts)
3. The next time some jackass GOP thug asks "why do liberals hate America?"...
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:21 PM
Mar 2018

HERE is your fucking answer douche bag.

This kind of slavish devotion to hatred and ideology over and above compassion and common sense is simply par for the course for those people and it is bringing America down to levels not seen globally for many decades.

I LOVE America the idea and all that it stands for...
I LOATHE America the vision of the GOP and the current trajectory it is on...

Jake Stern

(3,145 posts)
5. "Felony drug conviction"
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:29 PM
Mar 2018

Makes it sound like cops found a gram of blow in his pocket during a traffic stop.

He was TRAFFICKING goodly quantities of cocaine.

Thanks to Mr. Perez for his service but that doesn't outweigh the fact that he was dealing hard drugs.

groundloop

(11,488 posts)
6. Do you have any proof of those assertions?
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:34 PM
Mar 2018

"Makes it sound like cops found a gram of blow in his pocket during a traffic stop" makes it sound like speculation on your part.

I'd like to hear some facts and not just conjecture.

neohippie

(1,142 posts)
9. If you read the article you would have your answer
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:57 PM
Mar 2018
It's a complicated case. Perez has said that what he saw and experienced in Afghanistan sent his life off the rails, leading to heavy drinking, a drug addiction and ultimately to his felony conviction.

"After the second tour, there was more alcohol and that was also when I tried some drugs," Perez said last month. "But the addiction really started after I got back to Chicago, when I got back home, because I did not feel very sociable."

In 2010, he was convicted in Cook County, Illinois, on charges related to delivering more than 2 pounds of cocaine to an undercover officer. He was sentenced to 15 years and his green card was revoked. He had served half his sentence when ICE began deportation proceedings. He had been in the agency's custody since 2016.

Perez has said he was surprised to be in ICE detention and mistakenly believed that enlisting in the Army would automatically give him US citizenship, according to his lawyer, Chris Bergin. His retroactive application for citizenship was denied earlier this month. While there are provisions for expediting troops' naturalization process, a main requirement is that the applicant demonstrate "good moral character," and the drug conviction was enough to sway the decision against his application, Bergin said.
 

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)
7. Six of one, half a dozen of the other...
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:35 PM
Mar 2018

"Thanks to Mr. Perez for his service but that doesn't outweigh the fact that he was suffering an addictions to hard drugs..."

Six of one, half a dozen of the other... but I readily understand how the latter may not validate your bias. I get it though, it's fun to pretend we have absolute knowledge of what outweighs what-- we get to look more clever than reality may otherwise allow.

otchmoson

(67 posts)
8. Can he sue U.S. government for breach of contract?
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 04:44 PM
Mar 2018

If he served, he's entitled to the benefits earned (and promised by the U.S. government.) How can he receive treatment at VA hospitals when he is no longer in the country (not by choice)? Can he use G.I. bill to purchase a home in Mexico? How about PX/base privileges and educational support?

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
11. Afghanistan War Veterans Deportation Is a Shocking Betrayal, Senator Says
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 06:00 PM
Mar 2018

By CHRISTINE HAUSER
MARCH 26, 2018

A United States Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan was deported to Mexico after his application for citizenship was denied because of a felony drug conviction, his lawyer and immigration officials said.

Miguel Perez-Montes, 39, was flown on Friday from Gary, Ind., to Brownsville, Tex., where he was escorted across the border to Mexico, Nicole Alberico, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Mr. Perez-Montes, who came to the United States legally when he was 8 years old, was convicted in 2010 for delivering cocaine to an undercover officer, a felony drug charge, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was placed into removal proceedings in 2012, while behind bars in Illinois, and had been in ICE custody since Sept. 23, 2016, Ms. Alberico said.

Mr. Perez-Montes’s case rose to prominence after Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and an Iraq war veteran, appealed to the Department of Homeland Security on Friday to stay his deportation and review his case.

“This is a deplorable way to treat a veteran who risked his life in combat for our nation,” she wrote in a letter to the secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen.

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/us/army-veteran-deported.html

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
12. Afghan war vet deported to Mexico and left 'homeless and penniless,' his Chicago family says
Mon Mar 26, 2018, 06:03 PM
Mar 2018

Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune
MARCH 26, 2018 3:10 PM

Ending a 16-month quest to stay in a country where he was raised and that he fought to defend, Miguel Perez Jr., a veteran who held a green card, has been deported to Mexico, where he has not lived since childhood.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Sunday that Perez boarded an ICE Air Operations flight at Gary International Airport and was flown to Brownsville, Texas. There, ICE officers escorted Perez across the U.S.-Mexico border and turned him over to Mexican authorities.

Perez was deported without the customary warning and opportunity to say goodbye to his family. He had no money or clothes and was left in a border town on the U.S. travel warning list, advocates said. His family will fly to Mexico on Monday to help him gather resources and ensure his safety.

“This is an intolerable way to treat a man who fought bravely for this nation,” said Emma Lozano, an advocate who has been fighting Perez’s case. “They have left him homeless and penniless in a dangerous place, without food or money or clothes or needed medications.”

More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-green-card-veteran-miguel-perez-mexico-20180326-story.html

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»US Army veteran who serve...