Sergeant postpones reassignment, takes daughter to school since wife’s July detention
The wife of an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant was deported Monday to her native Honduras, according to her family and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Associated Press identified her as Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo and reported that she is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty U.S. military service member to be removed under President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
The AP has documented more than 50 cases in which immediate family members of U.S. troops were placed in federal immigration detention since the Trump administration rolled back protections for military families. In some of those cases, DHS has released military spouses following media attention and advocacy by congressional leaders, the AP reported.
Villafranca-Trejo’s husband, Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, told the AP that he has struggled to manage his military duties since his wife was detained July 11 outside a Walmart near Fort Bliss, Texas, where he is stationed.
The couple has a 6-year-old daughter, and Turcios Juarez has handled her care alone since the detention. Instead of training in the mornings, he takes her to first grade, he told the AP. He said he has already had to postpone a planned assignment at another base.