SANTA FE, N.M. — The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant was being held Tuesday at an immigration detention facility in El Paso, Texas, after her husband said immigration agents arrested her during a scheduled appointment connected to immigration services. Jose Serrano, an active duty soldier who said he served three tours in Afghanistan, described what he said happened as his wife, Deisy Rivera Ortega, attended the appointment with steps underway toward permanent residency.
Serrano said agents arrested Rivera Ortega on April 14 as they went through a hallway inside the immigration process. He said her arrest was conducted without what he described as an order or warrant and that officers did not explain what was happening to her. Serrano said that since the arrest, Rivera Ortega has continued to fight the case in court.
A lawyer for Rivera Ortega said she challenged her detention in U.S. District Court and sought an order to block her deportation to Mexico, a destination her husband said has no ties for her. The record described her as an El Salvador native, and Serrano said she faces travel restrictions on visits by active duty U.S. troops.
In court, Rivera Ortega’s attorney, Matthew James Kozik, said she had a valid work permit and that she had previously been granted withholding of removal to El Salvador. Kozik’s account was that the case involves circumstances where she continued to have permission to work and a prior protection outcome before the new detention and removal steps.
The Department of Homeland Security, in an email, said Rivera Ortega entered the U.S. illegally in 2016 and that a judge issued a final order of removal in December 2019. The agency said, “Work authorization does not confer any legal status to be in the country. Rivera-Ortega remains in ICE custody pending removal,” according to the email. The Department of Homeland Security did not address whether Rivera Ortega might be deported to Mexico.
Serrano said he was able to visit Rivera Ortega on Sunday at the El Paso Service Processing Center and speak to her through a plastic pane. He described the facility setting as part of the ongoing separation while her legal challenge proceeds.
Serrano said Rivera Ortega applied for consideration for her husband’s military service under the “parole in place” policy, which he said had provided a possibly expedited pathway to permanent residency for spouses of service members. He also pointed to policy changes at the Department of Homeland Security, saying the agency eliminated last year a 2022 policy that considered military service of an immediate family member to be a significant mitigating factor when deciding whether to pursue enforcement.
In describing the shift, the report said the administration’s new policy states that “military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.” The policy change, in Serrano’s account, has contributed to the narrowing options available to spouses like Rivera Ortega as enforcement moves forward.
As the case continues, Serrano said he has sought relief through the courts, while immigration authorities maintain Rivera Ortega remains in federal custody pending removal. MSI previously reported on a developing chain of this case after the initial detention was made public: U.S. Army staff sergeant seeks help after wife detained for deportation. The latest reporting describes the continued detention in El Paso and the arguments still being made in federal court.