Annie Ramos, 22, the wife of US Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Blank, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Fort Polk in Louisiana last Thursday, just days after their marriage. Blank, 23, who has served for over five years and deployed to the Middle East and Europe, was preparing for deployment when the arrest occurred.
Ramos, a biochemistry student with no criminal record who teaches Sunday school, was subject to a deportation order issued in absentia in 2005 when she was an infant, after her family missed an immigration court hearing. Despite pathways for undocumented immigrants to obtain legal permanent residency through marriage, Ramos and Blank had hired a lawyer to begin the process before their wedding. Blank stated, 'I knew she didn’t have status, but we were doing everything the right way.'
In 2020, Ramos applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), but her application was never processed after the Trump administration stopped accepting new applicants. On 2 April, Blank and Ramos visited the Fort Polk visitor center with her birth certificate, Honduran passport, marriage license, and his military ID. When asked about a visa or green card, they explained she did not have one but that their lawyer had prepared the necessary paperwork.
An attendant made phone calls, and a supervisor and an officer from the base's Criminal Investigation Division arrived, who contacted ICE. Ramos was handcuffed and taken to an interrogation room. Three ICE agents later arrived, with Blank's parents stating, 'They told us they didn’t have a choice – they had to take Annie.' Ramos was transferred to a detention facility in Basile, Louisiana, where family visits were restricted, preventing her from signing a completed green card application.
Ramos told the New York Times, 'I grew up here like any American. This is all I know.' Blank is trying to halt her deportation order, saying, 'I want my wife home, and I will not stop fighting until she is back where she belongs, by my side.' ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
