A months-long immigration drama that sparked national outrage over the treatment of military families has come to a temporary resolution, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement freed Deisy Rivera Ortega, the wife of a decades-long U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran, from custody, her legal representative has confirmed to the BBC.
Rivera Ortega, a native of El Salvador, was taken into immigration custody on April 14 during a routine scheduled immigration check-in in El Paso, Texas, that she attended alongside her husband, Sgt. Jose Serrano. Serrano, who has served the U.S. military for nearly 28 years and was born a U.S. citizen in Puerto Rico, told reporters his wife’s detention left him deeply distraught.
In an official statement following the release, the couple’s attorney Matthew James Kozik simply said, “We celebrate her release.” Footage shared with CBS News shows Serrano driving away from the detention facility with Rivera Ortega in the passenger seat, confirming she had been freed and the pair were returning home.
At the time of her arrest, the couple was in the process of applying for parole-in-place, a federal program specifically designed to allow spouses of active-duty service members and veterans to remain in the U.S. while their immigration applications are processed. Court and legal documents provided to the BBC show the pair married in 2022, had compiled all required documentation covering their marriage, employment, and immigration status ahead of the appointment, and complied fully with all check-in requirements.
Serrano recalled that during the meeting, officials flagged what they claimed was an issue with their submitted paperwork. After escorting the couple down a hallway, officers separated Rivera Ortega and took her into custody without prior warning.
In the wake of the arrest, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) characterized Rivera Ortega as a “criminal illegal alien”, noting she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without inspection in 2016 and was convicted of a federal illegal entry offense. A 2019 immigration judge ordered her removal to El Salvador, but simultaneously granted her withholding of removal protection under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which bars immigration authorities from deporting her to El Salvador over credible concerns she would face severe harm if returned.
This legal protection left immigration officials in a position to consider deporting Rivera Ortega to Mexico instead, a move that Serrano and Kozik said officials actively explored after her arrest.
The case quickly drew political pushback, with U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and Iraq War veteran, personally placing a call to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday to raise concerns over the detention, according to Duckworth’s office.
In a public statement after the release, Duckworth said, “I am so incredibly grateful for Deisy’s release and for her to be reunited with her family. Deisy was doing everything ‘the right way’: attending her military parole in-place interview when she was detained by ICE with no warrant and no explanation. There is no higher betrayal to our heroes than to have one of their family members deported by the same nation they sacrificed to defend.”
DHS has not yet responded to repeated requests for comment from the BBC, including inquiries about Duckworth’s outreach to Mullin and the details of Rivera Ortega’s release.
This incident marks the second high-profile case in April of ICE detaining the spouse of an active-duty U.S. service member. Earlier that month, Annie Ramos, the Honduran-born wife of Sgt. Matthew Blank who was brought to the U.S. as a child, was held in ICE custody for five days before being released.