Wife of Marine forced to leave family as efforts to stop her deportation fail

Joel Shannon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Former Marine's wife deported to Mexico A family is being split up in Florida, where the wife of a former Marine who served in Iraq, is being deported to Mexico after exhausting all her appeals. (Aug. 3)

The wife of a Marine boarded a plane in Orlando, Florida, bound for Mexico on Friday after running out of options to stop her impending deportation.

Alejandra Juarez, 39, has been fighting to stay in America since a 2013 traffic stop exposed her legal status. She has been accused of making a false statement at the border when she sought asylum in 1998.

Traditionally, immigration officials have given the spouses of military members a measure of leniency, Stars and Stripes reports.

Juarez's husband, Temo Juarez, is a naturalized citizen who runs a roofing business. He served in the Marine Corps. and the Florida National Guard, according to Stars and Stripes. The publication reports he is an Iraq combat veteran.

Temo voted for President Donald Trump, but didn't think Trump's policies would affect his family this personally. He cast his vote before the enforcement of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy toward illegal immigration.

Alejandra has lived in the United States for 20 years. On Friday, she left behind her husband and two daughters — Estela, 9, and Pamela, 16.

The younger daughter will likely join Alejandra in the future as she settles in to her new home, surrounded by a small community of deported military spouses.

At the airport her older daughter cursed immigration officials: "My mom is a good person. She's not a criminal," Pamela said.

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Multiple political efforts to stop her mother's deportation failed. U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla. couldn't get the votes in Congress for legislation to protect Juarez.

"It's an absolute disgrace by the Trump administration to be deporting a patriotic spouse," Soto said.

At the airport Friday, Soto told Juarez he was not giving up.

NBC News has also detailed numerous letter-writing efforts that aimed to convince the Trump administration to intervene in Juarez's case.

"My husband fought for this country three times. The administration, yourself, you think you are punishing me. You're not just punishing me," she said, referring to her family. "I hope this makes him happy. And I really pray that God will forgive him."

Contributing: The Associated Press