immigrationcoalition "A U.S. Army staff sergeant and his wife arrived at his base in Louisiana last week, expecting to begin their life together as newlyweds. The couple checked in at the visitor center, identification in hand, ready to complete the steps that would allow her to move into his home on the base. Within hours, that plan had unraveled. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the base and detained his wife, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. By nightfall, she was in a detention facility with hundreds of women facing deportation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The detention came just days after Annie Ramos, 22, a college student with no criminal record, and Matthew Blank, 23, celebrated their marriage with family and friends. Sergeant Blank, who enlisted more than five years ago, is assigned to a brigade at Fort Polk, La. that is set to begin training at the end of the month for deployment. Ms. Ramos had been ordered deported in absentia in 2005, when she was 22 months old, (read that again! 😡!) after her family failed to appear at a hearing in immigration court, a circumstance that was 'very common,' according to Margaret Stock, who wrote a book called 'Immigration Law and the Military.' In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Ramos had been arrested “after she attempted to enter a military base.” She has no legal status to be in this country and was issued a final order of removal by a judge,' the statement read. 'This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.' (Unless they want to...🙄) On Saturday, he and his mother traveled to the detention center in Basile, La. with the completed form to apply for Ms. Ramos’s green card. It only needed her signature. Guards barred them (Sgt. Blank & his mom)from bringing anything inside." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/us/ice-detains-military-wife-soldier-deployment.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share View all 50 comments