ICE Cruelly Deports Spouse of Soldier Killed in Afghanistan, Leaving Their Daughter in the U.S.

The Trump administration has deported Jose Gonzalez Carranza, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant whose wife died as a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, according to AZ Central. The couple’s 12-year-old daughter was left in Phoenix, AZ.

Gonzalez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last Monday as he commuted to his welding job. He’s since been deported to Nogales, Mexico, according to his attorney Ezequiel Hernandez.

Now, Gonzalez is living in a shelter for deported immigrants in Nogales, and says he is worried about his daughter.

“I feel so bad,” he told AZ Central. “I’m thinking about, I might never see her again.”

Golzalez wife, Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, was killed by an IED while fighting with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan on Sept. 18, 2010. She was 22.

“She sacrificed her life for this country,” Gonzalez told AZ Central.

The couple’s daughter is now living with her grandparents in the Phoenix suburb Mesa.

After his wife was killed, Gonzalez was initially allowed to remain in the U.S. under a policy known as “parole in place,” which lets undocumented immigrants stay in the country without fear of deportation. A judge terminated deportation proceedings against Gonzalez at that time. In 2018, ICE refiled the case against him.

Gonzalez was ordered by ICE to appear in court in December 2018. When he didn’t appear, the judge ordered him deported. But Gonzalez says he never received the notice to appear, which he says was sent to the wrong address.

Because of this, his lawyer says, Gonzalez only found out he was being deported when he was arrested last week.

This is far from the first time that an administrative error on the part of the government has had dire consequences for immigrants. Earlier this year, hundreds of immigrants were given incorrect court dates by the Department of Justice. Some of the immigrants had driven hours and waited in long lines for their court dates, only to be turned away. The same thing happened in 2018.

Hernandez says his client has no criminal record, and there’s no indication of why ICE may have targeted him for deportation.

“This guy’s wife died in action in Afghanistan,” Hernandez told AZ Central.

Now, Hernandez says, after they learned from the press that Gonzalez’ wife died in service, he received a call from ICE in which they said they would try to allow his client back into the U.S. ICE hasn’t provided any information on the case.