Wife of US soldier returns home after removal from Brazil deportation flight

Congressional Democrats launch investigation into military family deportations

Maisa Lopes Eliaser, the wife of a U.S. soldier who had spent more than a month in federal immigration detention, is back home after officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed her from a deportation flight to her native Brazil, she told The Associated Press.

Eliaser told the AP she was placed on a deportation flight to Brazil on Wednesday. During the flight, ICE officers aboard the plane received a phone call about her, she said. An officer then asked her whether she wanted to continue on to Brazil or return to the United States.

Earlier in the month, the AP had reported on Eliaser as one of dozens of spouses or parents of U.S. troops who had been detained after President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back protections for military families as part of its push for mass deportations. Following the AP’s reporting, a group of Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into deportations of military service members and their families, the AP reported.