Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday released Deisy Rivera Ortega, the wife of active-duty U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jose Serrano, after roughly a month in custody, Serrano told CBS News. Rivera Ortega, an El Salvador native, was detained by ICE on April 14 during an immigration appointment in El Paso, Texas.
Serrano, a 27-year Army veteran who served three deployments to Afghanistan, said he was overjoyed when he learned his wife would be freed. “I don’t have words to describe how happy I feel,” he said after picking her up from an ICE detention center in El Paso. “When they called me that my wife would be released today, I started shaking, tears on my eyes and heart pounding super fast.” The couple married in 2022.
Rivera Ortega went to the appointment as part of an application for Parole in Place, a program intended to protect spouses and parents of service members from deportation and can be a step toward permanent residency. Serrano said Rivera Ortega has lived in the United States for about a decade and had been working with a government permit tied to a legal protection under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which prevents her being returned to El Salvador.
The Department of Homeland Security has said ICE arrested Rivera Ortega because of a deportation order dating to 2019 and that she was convicted of entering the U.S. illegally, a federal misdemeanor. ICE officials in detention reportedly told her she could face removal to a third country, such as Mexico, because her torture-protection status only bars return to El Salvador.
Advocates and lawmakers have highlighted Rivera Ortega’s case as part of a recent string of ICE detentions involving relatives of U.S. service members. While such arrests were historically uncommon, they have become more frequent under the current administration, which has signaled a broader deportation push. White House border adviser Tom Homan, in an interview with CBS News last week, said he would “look into” Rivera Ortega’s case and noted ICE officers have discretion when choosing enforcement targets, even while arguing that those with deportation orders have received due process.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a combat veteran, personally called Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and said she asked for Rivera Ortega’s release. “I’m thankful to Secretary Mullin for heeding my personal call to release Deisy, but she — and so many others — should never have been in this situation to begin with,” Duckworth said. “I will never stop working to protect our Veterans and military families. They fought for this country, we must fight for them.”
Serrano said his wife’s detention worsened his existing mental health struggles; he has previously been treated for a traumatic brain injury, PTSD and depression. After her release, he said the couple will continue the immigration process and remain punctual for every appointment. “My wife and myself will be on time in every appointment. That’s something you learn from basic training,” he said.