TRAGIC

Wife of Marine Veteran Deported to Mexico Under ‘Zero Tolerance,’ Lawyer Says

“Mr. President, you deporting me is not going to hurt just me; you’re making a veteran suffer,” Alejandra Juarez said.

The wife of a Marine veteran was deported Friday after living in the United States for nearly 20 years, according to Reuters. Alejandra Juarez, 38, left her husband and a child behind as she boarded a plane from Florida to Mexico. “Mr. President, you deporting me is not going to hurt just me; you’re making a veteran suffer,” Alejandra Juarez said at the airport. “You always say you love veterans. If you really love veterans, why didn’t you pardon me?” The woman’s lawyer claims that President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy is to blame for her deportation, since she was previously considered “low priority” and had been checking in with immigration authorities every six months. Juarez attempted to enter the U.S. illegally in 1998 but was deported, then successfully re-entered in 2000. That same year, she married Temo Juarez, an Iraq veteran and naturalized citizen. Her first deportation reportedly made her ineligible for “getting a visa or becoming a citizen,” and she was discovered by law enforcement in 2013 during a traffic stop. Juarez was able to live a normal life in the U.S. by checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials twice a year, but that apparently changed when new deportation rules were put in place. She plans to live in Mexico with her youngest daughter, while her husband and other child remain in the U.S.