Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have detained the wife of a US Army staff sergeant at his military base in Louisiana, just days after their wedding and as he prepared for deployment. Annie Ramos, 22, was arrested on Thursday at Fort Polk, according to reports.
Ramos, a biochemistry student and Sunday school teacher with no criminal record, was subject to a deportation order issued in absentia in 2005 when she was an infant after her family missed an immigration court hearing. She and her husband, Matthew Blank, 23, had hired a lawyer to begin the process of obtaining legal permanent residency through marriage.
Blank told the New York Times that they were 'doing everything the right way.' However, when they visited the Fort Polk visitor centre with Ramos's birth certificate, Honduran passport, marriage licence and Blank's military ID, the situation escalated. After explaining that Ramos did not have a visa or green card, base officials contacted ICE, and Ramos was handcuffed and taken to an interrogation room.
Three ICE agents later arrived and took Ramos into custody, despite pleas from Blank's mother. 'I begged them not to take her,' Jen Rickling said. 'They said the higher-ups made them do it.' Ramos was transferred to a detention facility in Basile, Louisiana, where she was unable to sign a completed green card application as documents were not allowed in.
Blank, who is due to start deployment training, said: 'I want my wife home. And I will not stop fighting until she is back where she belongs, by my side.' The case highlights how Trump's immigration crackdown has affected military families, despite claims it would prioritise dangerous criminals.
