The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and family members confirmed Monday that federal authorities deported Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, the wife of an active-duty U.S. Army soldier, to Honduras. Villafranca-Trejo was detained on July 11 outside a Walmart near Fort Bliss, Texas, where her husband, Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, is stationed.
The deportation occurred amid a broader immigration policy shift under the Trump administration. According to The Associated Press, Villafranca-Trejo is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty military member to be removed recently. The news agency also identified more than 50 cases where immediate relatives of U.S. troops were held in federal custody following the rescission of certain military household protections.
DHS stated that Villafranca-Trejo received "due process" and noted that an immigration judge issued a final order of removal in 2017 after she failed to appear at a hearing. Her husband stated she never received notice for that hearing and only learned of the deportation order while applying for a green card after their 2022 marriage. At the time of her removal, an appeal was pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and she had been waiting a year for a decision on a military parole-in-place application.
The scale of this policy shift involves dozens of families currently in the military community. The Associated Press reports at least 50 documented cases of military relatives being held in federal immigration custody. Under previous administrative practices, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) typically allowed immediate family members of service members to adjust their legal status even if a removal order existed. Former ICE deputy chief counsel Dan Gividen stated that in the past, authorities would generally not detain or execute removal orders for spouses of active-duty members eligible for green cards.
The deportation sets a precedent for how DHS handles "parole-in-place," a program intended to allow military families to stay together while applying for legal residency. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) has opened a congressional inquiry into the case, highlighting the friction between immigration enforcement and military readiness. While DHS maintains the legality of the removal based on the 2017 court order, the case demonstrates that pending appeals and military status no longer guarantee a stay of deportation. Future developments will depend on the outcome of similar congressional inquiries and whether DHS continues to prioritize the removal of military dependents with existing orders.