US Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan has been deported to Mexico
Miguel Perez, 39, legally came to the US when his was 8 after his father was offered a job in Chicago. After serving in the US Army and doing 2 tours in Afghanistan (from October-April 2003 and May to October 2004), Perez suffered from PTSD leading him to feel very unsociable, and even led “to heavy drinking, a drug addiction, and ultimately to his felony conviction—“ in 2010 he was caught delivering some 2 pounds of cocaine to an undercover cop. He was discharged from the army 6 years prior to this for smoking marijuana on base.
While his parents and sisters are US citizens, Perez’s green card was later revoked in 2010 and he was sentenced 15 years in prison. In 2016, halfway through his sentence, Perez was taken into ICE’s custody. Unfortunately, Perez “was escorted across the US-Mexico border from Texas and handed over to Mexican authorities Friday,” according to ICE.
Most of Perez’s relatives, as well as immigration advocates, believe that serving for the country entitled him to becoming a legal US resident/citizen and gave him the right to seek the proper medical attention needed for his PTSD and drug addiction. Even Perez thought that enlisting for the war granted him citizenship, which he was denied of when he applied last month because he did not show “good moral character.” Now, Perez fears he may die in Mexico because “drug cartels will try to recruit him because of his combat experience and will murder him if he doesn't cooperate.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois chimed in and said that these deportations are based “more in hate than in logic, and ICE doesn’t feel accountable to anyone.”
Opinion: It’s crazy how Perez is being deported for doing a crime he committed because of his PTSD— the PTSD he was diagnosed with as a US war veteran that led to an unfortunate substance abuse. Yet, instead of rehabilitating him or even applauding him for serving for our country, ICE decided to deport him despite the fact that his whole family has been naturalized (his father and 1 sister were naturalized, other sister was born here, as well as his 2 children). Perez has lived here for 31 years, fought for our country in the hopes of gaining legal citizenship, but is now being separated from his loved ones in a country where he fears for his life. When we sat in various deportation hearings for last year’s alternative spring break, a Filipina woman was being deported for substance abuse as well and she did not even bothering defending herself and just accepted that she was going to be deported. Yet, she did not realize how unsafe she would be in the Philippines, especially with the ongoing bloody war on drugs that has left thousands of lower class citizens dead on the streets of their homes. I agree with what Sen. Duckworth said, is ICE or even Trump aware of the horrors that await these soon-to-be-deported immigrants? What do you guys think?
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