Active-duty soldier's wife deported to Honduras amid immigration crackdown

Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, the wife of Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, was deported to her native Honduras after the Department of Homeland Security executed a 2017 removal order. She arrived in the United States at age 18 in 2016, married the soldier in 2022, and has no known criminal history, yet she missed a 2017 hearing she says she never received notice for. Her husband, who serves at Fort Bliss, Texas, now must care for their six-year-old daughter while his training schedule and a planned reassignment have been disrupted.

The incident adds to more than 50 cases identified by one outlet where immediate family members of active-duty troops have been detained since the Trump administration rescinded special immigration safeguards. Although some families have been released after media and congressional pressure, Villafranca-Trejo’s appeal was rejected in May and her request for military parole-in-place remains unresolved. Representative Veronica Escobar has opened a congressional inquiry and visited the detention facility, describing the situation as a betrayal of those who serve the country.