A US army veteran and Purple Heart recipient who served two tours in Iraq was deported on Friday morning from an immigration detention facility in Florence, Arizona. Jose Barco, a Venezuelan-born veteran whose family fled Cuba as refugees, was removed to Nogales, Mexico, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Arizona state representative Raquel Terán confirmed the deportation to Fox 10 Phoenix, stating it occurred at 4am. However, Anna Stout, a volunteer on Barco’s defence team, told Denver 7 that his legal team was not notified of the plans. Barco’s family said in a statement that they had not received confirmation of his location as of Friday evening, adding: “We have not received word from Jose or from anyone else with firsthand knowledge that he has actually arrived in Nogales. We only have the official statement from ICE to go on.”
Barco, 39, served 15 years in prison for a felony conviction of attempted murder. In October 2009, he was sentenced to 52 years after being convicted of firing a gun at a house party in Colorado Springs while suffering from PTSD. One of the bullets hit a 19-year-old woman in the leg. He was released on parole this January due to good behaviour, but was immediately detained by ICE.
Barco enlisted in the army at 17 and served two tours in Iraq. He was injured by an improvised explosive device and received a Purple Heart, as well as a Combat Infantry Badge. During his military career, he submitted paperwork for citizenship, but his application was never processed for an unknown reason. His legal team says his former commander attests to helping him complete and submit the application.
In September, an immigration judge denied Barco’s relief appeals, including an application for asylum, and ordered his removal. The court had previously specified that he could be removed to Venezuela, Cuba or Mexico. Stout described the process as “frustrating”, saying: “The fact he is being removed from the country where he was raised and that he fought and bled for is devastating to begin with, but the uncertainty of where he is … has made a horrific situation so much worse.”
