Milbank: Deportation without exception, compassion or reason

Army Sgt. Temo Juarez supported Trump, until ICE deported his immigrant wife, separating his family.

Video: In this Spanish-language op-ed (subtitled in English), Elias Lopez argues that even if President Trump has stopped separating migrant families, he is waging a wider attack on immigrants. (Kate Woodsome, Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

By Dana Milbank

Sgt. Temo Juarez was a Trump guy. An Iraq combat veteran who served as a Marine infantryman and then an Army National Guardsman, his friends called him a “super conservative.” With his wife, he brought up their two daughters in Central Florida. He supported Trump in 2016, eager for a change.

But now, “I am eating my words,” he told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes in an interview published last week.

On Friday, Juarez and his family became the latest victims of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy on immigration.

On that day, his wife, Alejandra, left the country under a deportation order. She had come to the United States from Mexico illegally as a teenager two decades ago and had until now been living undisturbed with Temo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and daughters, both natural-born Americans. This week, Temo will fly to Mexico with his daughters, 9-year-old Estela and 16-year-old Pamela — and leave his younger daughter there, even though English is her first language. He can’t do his construction job and take care of her in Florida by himself.

Temo Juarez believed Trump would deport only illegal immigrants who were criminals, and his wife had no record.

Instead, as the family fought Alejandra’s deportation, young Estela, with unicorns on her T-shirt, wept as she spoke to TV cameras: “I really do want to stay with my mom and dad. I want us to be together and stay in my house. I don’t want to go to Mexico. I want to stay here.”

For Sgt. Juarez, this was the Trump administration’s unique way of saying, “Thank you for your service.”

Trump’s “family separation” policy is most visible on the border. Last week, the administration said it still had not reunited 572 immigrant children it separated from their parents. The administration, in a court filing last week, said it should be up to the American Civil Liberties Union — the group that sued over family separation — to locate the parents.

But, as the Juarez case shows, the wanton cruelty of the immigration policy isn’t limited to new arrivals. “Zero tolerance literally ripped this family apart,” Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, the Juarezes’ congressman, told me Monday. “The administration is so extreme on immigration that they’re deporting the spouses of military veterans.”

Soto and colleagues introduced legislation and wrote letters to help the Juarez family. No use.

At political rallies, Trump often exults: “Oh, do we love our veterans!” He also talks about illegal immigrants who “infest” the country.

In real life, the ones Trump loves and the ones Trump demonizes are not so far apart. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells me it doesn’t track the number of military spouses subjected to deportation. But the advocacy group American Families United, extrapolating from census figures, estimates there are as many as 11,800 active-duty military service members with a spouse or family member vulnerable to deportation. And that doesn’t include veterans’ families.

Since the Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War, and the Irish Brigade during the Civil War, immigrants have had a central role in the U.S. military. That’s true now, too, says Jon Soltz, an Iraq veteran who founded the group VoteVets. If zero tolerance is enforced, he said, it will feel as if “everybody has a family member who is affected.”

As many as 1,000 foreign nationals, recruited to the military for their critical language or medical skills, face potential discharge over delays in background checks. The Trump administration’s removal of protected status for Salvadorans and Haitians means many more military family members will face deportation. Many veterans themselves have been deported because of missed application deadlines.

ICE, in a statement, says it “removed Alejandra Juarez, a citizen and national of Mexico, to her home country.” ICE said she had attempted in 1998 to enter the country by falsely claiming she was a U.S. citizen and was issued an “expedited order of removal.”

She returned, illegally, and remained without incident until a traffic stop led ICE to reinstate her removal order in 2013. But the Obama administration did not prioritize the deportation of military family members.

These are different times.

Juarez hasn’t spoken much in public about his family’s ordeal. But in the Stars and Stripes interview, he spoke about preparing his daughters for the impending family separation. “I’ve been preaching to them you’ve got to be mentally tough — pretty much what they teach you in the Army,” he said.

But nothing the military taught him could have prepared him for the cruelty his country just inflicted on his family.

Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter @Milbank.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Saturday, July 12

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Authorities search for victims among the rubble near Blue Oak RV park after catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday, July 6, 2025. The half-mile stretch occupied by two campgrounds appears to have been one of the deadliest spots along the Guadalupe River in Central Texas during last week’s flash floods. (Jordan Vonderhaar/The New York Times)
Editorial: Tragic Texas floods can prompt reforms for FEMA

The federal agency has an important support role to play, but Congress must reassess and improve it.

Comment: Reforms to involuntary committment law can save lives

Washington state should consider changes New York made to protect those who can’t protect themselves.

Comment: Medicaid reforms will keep it for those most in need

Beyond the ‘sky is falling’ claims, the BBB’s reforms to Medicaid are fair and necessary to save it.

Forum: ‘The vibrations hit you deep. You can feel it in your body.’

How the far-off cadence of a marching band’s drums caught a 10-year-old’s ear with the rhythm of the beat.

Harrop: Trump Country should brace for less federal disaster aid

Red states have been among the largest recipients of FEMA aid. Trump says he’ll end that help.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Friday, July 11

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

2024 Presidential Election Day Symbolic Elements.
Editorial: Retain Escamilla, Binda on Lynnwood City Council

Escamilla was appointed a year ago. Binda is serving his first term.

The Buzz: What the mainstream media don’t want you to know

They’re not, but we just liked how that looked at the top of the page and thought you’d read it.

Schwab: Yes, your Medicaid’s gone but you can gloat over gators

What Trump is taking from the social safety net, he’s adding to the cruelty against working immigrants.

Congress’ passage of tax cuts bill marked shameful day for GOP

This July 3 was one of the most shameful days in American… Continue reading

Tell senators to keep vaccine aid by rejecting recissions bill

The Senate could vote on a Trump administration-proposed rescissions package before July… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.