Deportation Despite Pending Military Relief Application
The wife of an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant was deported Monday to Honduras, marking at least the seventh deportation of an immediate family member of a serving military member under the current administration's immigration enforcement policies.
Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo was removed from the United States despite having a pending application for military parole-in-place, a program established in 2007 by the Department of Homeland Security to provide immigration relief to immediate family members of active-duty military personnel, veterans, and Selected Reserve members. Her case highlights a significant shift in how immigration authorities treat military families.
Disruption to Military Service
Villafranca-Trejo's husband, Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, said the detention and deportation of his wife have severely impacted his ability to fulfill his military duties. Since her arrest on July 11 outside a Walmart near the base, he has been solely responsible for their 6-year-old daughter.
I don't know if I will be able to continue with this. I have to make a plan to make sure I can still fulfill my military responsibilities — but also take care of my family.
The sergeant now takes his daughter to first grade each morning instead of attending training exercises and has already postponed a planned assignment at another base.
Immigration History and Legal Proceedings
Villafranca-Trejo entered the United States in 2016 at age 18 from Honduras. According to the Department of Homeland Security, an immigration judge issued a final order of removal in 2017 after she failed to appear at a scheduled hearing. Under immigration law, failure to appear at a hearing can result in an in absentia removal order, though such orders may be reopened if the person can demonstrate they did not receive proper notice or that exceptional circumstances prevented their attendance.
Turcios Juarez said his wife never received notice of the 2017 hearing and remained unaware of the deportation order until the couple attempted to apply for her green card after marrying in 2022. The sergeant, originally from Honduras himself, became a U.S. citizen in 2024 after enlisting two years earlier.
Villafranca-Trejo's motion to reopen her case was denied last May, and an appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals remained pending at the time of her deportation. She had also been waiting approximately one year for a decision on her military parole-in-place application. According to USCIS data, the average processing time for such applications has more than doubled to 12 months under the current administration.
Broader Pattern Affecting Military Families
The Associated Press has identified more than 50 cases in which immediate family members of U.S. troops were placed in federal immigration detention following the rollback of protections for military families. From January 20, 2025 through January 26, 2026, immigration authorities detained 125 military veterans and arrested more than 150 immediate family members of veterans, according to DHS data provided to Democratic senators.
For decades, parents and spouses of military service members were generally shielded from deportation under a bipartisan consensus maintained across both Republican and Democratic administrations. Dan Gividen, who served as ICE deputy chief counsel from 2016 to 2019 during the previous administration, explained that immigration authorities at that time rarely detained service members' immediate family members unless they had committed violent crimes.
If you've got an active-duty military member that's married to someone now, and that's going to give her the opportunity to get a green card, you wouldn't detain them, much less execute the removal order.
Congressional Response
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat representing El Paso, opened a congressional inquiry into Villafranca-Trejo's case and visited her at the Camp East Montana detention facility in Texas earlier this month.
My heart breaks for her, her children and the soldier who must feel so betrayed by the country he is sacrificing for. There are far too many families like theirs who are being targeted instead of supported.
DHS confirmed the deportation, stating that Villafranca-Trejo had received due process. Villafranca-Trejo has no known criminal record.
Impact on Military Service
Turcios Juarez said he has not yet told his daughter what happened to her mother. Despite the challenges, he expressed his desire to continue serving in the Army.
I love what I do, I want to keep doing this. I just don't know how I am going to keep doing this.
We were following the rules -- we did everything we could on our side to fix this problem.
