Veterans fear they'll be caught up in deportation sweeps

Over 100,000 former service members living in the U.S. do not have citizenship.

- By STEPHEN GROVES

JULIO TORRES, a Marine Corps veteran, was detained by immigration officials last year. He migrated legally to the U.S. when he was 5, and has a green card.

(TONY GUTIERREZ Associated Press)

After serving with the Marine Corps in Iraq, Julio Torres has the American flag and Marine insignia tattooed on his arms to show his pride in serving a country he calls home.

After post-traumatic stress syndrome, drug addiction and a criminal charge following his deployment, the 44-year-old has found new purpose as a pastor preaching a message of freedom to those facing similar issues.

But these days, his community in East Texas feels more like jail than the land of the free.

Torres, who was born in Mexico and migrated legally to the United States at age 5, is afraid to venture far from home as President Trump works to carry out his mass deportation agenda. Torres has a green card residency permit and a record of service in the U.S. military, but he was detained by immigration authorities last year under the Biden administration. He fears that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids under Trump could only mean more trouble.

“Do I want to leave this nation? No. I want to serve it. I want to continue to serve my community,” Torres told the Associated Press. “It breaks my heart that I fought for this nation to raise my children in this nation, and now I have to pull my children out of this nation if I get deported. Then what did I fight for?”

There are well over 100,000 military veterans living in the U.S. who do not have citizenship, according to estimates in recent years by the Congressional Research Service. Despite military recruiters frequently describing service as a fast track to citizenship for troops and their family members, the Republican administration’s immigration agenda is putting them at renewed risk of deportation.