SAN DIEGO — SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal immigration officials arrested the parents of a U.S. Marine and one of them was later deported after visiting family members at a military base in California, a case that has drawn attention to how the government’s crackdown on immigration affects military families.
Steve Rios, a Marine from Oceanside, California, He told NBC 7 San Diego That his parents, Esteban Rios and Luisa Rodriguez, were taken into custody late last month while accompanying his pregnant sister, Ashley Rios, and her husband, also a Marine, at Camp Pendleton.
The couple, who came to the United States from Mexico three decades ago and had pending green card applications, were stopped by immigration agents and later released with ankle monitors, Steve Rios said. When they later checked in with federal immigration officials, they were detained and detained, he added.
Esteban Rios, who was wearing a hat and T-shirt that said “Proud Father of a US Marine,” was deported Friday, his son said.
“He said, ‘Yes, this is my lucky jersey, so we’ll be fine,'” Rios recalled his father saying.
U.S. Marine Corps recruiters have long promoted the draft as a path to stability for families without legal immigration status, but experts say those safeguards have eroded as federal authorities move to enforce existing laws more stringently.
The Marine Corps previously told The Associated Press that recruiters were told they were “not the appropriate authority” to “imply that the Marine Corps could secure immigration assistance for applicants or their families.”
People who break the law will face consequences, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Requests for additional information were not immediately responded to on Wednesday. Messages seeking additional comment were sent to the contact addresses and phone numbers listed for the Rios family.
This episode comes as the Trump administration It carries out an aggressive immigration enforcement campaignwhich sometimes involved relatives of military personnel and veterans.
In June, A Louisiana Maritime One veteran said his wife was detained by immigration authorities even though she was still breastfeeding their 3-month-old daughter.
In July, a US Army veteran, who was born and raised in California, was arrested during a crackdown Immigration raid At a marijuana farm where he worked in security. George Ritis, 25, was detained for three days at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, then released without charges.