Miguel Perez

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), an Iraq War veteran, has condemned the deportation of a fellow former military service member as “a deplorable way to treat a veteran who risked his life in combat for our nation.” Army Private 1st Class Miguel Perez, Jr. was born in Mexico and served two tours in Afghanistan, but had his green card revoked after a felony cocaine conviction. Perez “said that what he saw and experienced in Afghanistan sent his life off the rails,” leading him to struggle with PTSD and addiction. Like so many of our veterans, he needed help. Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “escorted [him] across the US-Mexico border from Texas and handed [him] over to Mexican authorities Friday”:

Perez, his family and supporters, who include Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, had argued that his wartime service to the country had earned him the right to stay in the United States and to receive mental health treatment for the PTSD and substance abuse. "This case is a tragic example of what can happen when national immigration policies are based more in hate than on logic and ICE doesn't feel accountable to anyone," Duckworth said in a statement following reports of Perez's deportation. "At the very least, Miguel should have been able to exhaust all of his legal options before being rushed out of the country under a shroud of secrecy."

Duckworth, who had introduced a “private bill” to stop Perez’s deportation, told NBC News that he had lived here as a legal resident since age 11, but was not a citizen. Service members are fast tracked for citizenship, but Perez’s attorney said the soldier had assumed it was automatic. When he tried a retroactive application, it was denied due to the conviction, for which he was sentenced to 15 years and served half. In her tweet, Duckworth said that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen did not respond to her personal appeal to look at his case. Perez’s attorney told NBC News that the dad of two U.S. citizens was deported “with no money and only his orange prison uniform”:

"He was dumped in one of the most dangerous areas of the Mexican border," Bergen said. "We will continue to fight his case and appeal his citizenship denial."

Nielsen could’ve stopped this deportation. ICE could’ve. Donald Trump himself could’ve. They didn’t. “We broke him, did not help him, and when he tried to help himself, we punished him,” said Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL). “Beyond the injustice ICE has laid on Mr. Perez Montes in his deportation,” Duckworth said in a statement just before Perez was kicked out to a country he hadn’t called home for decades, “I would find it shocking to learn that he will potentially be leaving with nothing but the clothes on his back. This is a deplorable way to treat a Veteran who risked his life in combat for our nation.”