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Steve Rios, a Marine from Oceanside, California, told NBC 7 San
Diego that his parents, Esteban Rios and Luisa Rodriguez, were
taken into custody late last month while picking up his pregnant
sister, Ashley Rios, and her husband, who is also a Marine, at
Camp Pendleton.
The couple, who came to the United States from Mexico three
decades ago and had pending green card applications, were
stopped by immigration agents and later released with ankle
monitors, Steve Rios said. At a later check-in with federal
immigration officials, they were detained and taken into
custody, he said.
Esteban Rios, who had been wearing a hat and shirt that read
“Proud Dad of a U.S. Marine,” was deported on Friday, his son
said.
“He said, ‘Yeah, this is my lucky shirt, so we’ll be fine,’”
Rios recalled his father saying.
Marine Corps recruiters have long promoted enlistment as a path
to stability for families without legal immigration status, but
experts say those assurances have eroded as federal authorities
have moved to enforce existing laws more strictly.
The Marine Corps previously told The Associated Press that
recruiters have been informed they are “not the proper
authority” to “imply that the Marine Corps can secure
immigration relief for applicants or their families.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia
McLaughlin, said in a statement to The Associated Press that
people who break the law would face consequences.
Requests for additional information on Wednesday were not
immediately returned. Messages seeking additional comment were
sent to the contact addresses and telephone numbers listed for
the Rios family.
The episode comes as the Trump administration pursues an
aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, which has at times
ensnared the relatives of military members and veterans.
In June, a Louisiana Marine veteran said immigration authorities
detained his wife even though she was still nursing their
3-month-old daughter.
And in July, a U.S. Army veteran who was born and raised in
California was arrested during an immigration raid at a
marijuana farm where he worked in security. George Retes, 25,
was detained for three days at the Metropolitan Detention Center
in downtown Los Angeles, then released without being charged.
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