The wife of a former Marine and Iraq combat veteran who voted for President Trump left voluntarily for Mexico on Friday, rather than be deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Alejandra Juarez, 38, has exhausted all of her options to fight against the deportation that was scheduled by ICE, The Associated Press reported.
“My mom is a good person. She’s not a criminal,” her 16-year-old daughter, Pamela Juarez, said.
{mosads}Juarez cursed at the immigration agency as her mother prepared to check in for her flight to Mexico from Orlando International Airport, the AP reported.
Alejandra Juarez illegally crossed the southern border into the U.S. in 1998 and married former Marine Sgt. Cuauhtemoc “Temo” Juarez in 2000, the Military Times reported last month.
Juarez served as an infantryman in the Marines from 1995 to 1999 and was deployed to both Africa and South America before later joining the Army National Guard in Orlando, Fla.
The family has been living in Davenport, Fla., with their two children — Pamela and 8-year-old Estela — until a 2013 traffic stop flagged Alejandra Juarez’s status as an undocumented immigrant.
Cuauhtemoc Juarez voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, the AP noted.
Earlier this year, Trump implemented a “zero tolerance” immigration policy that aggressively prosecutes those caught entering the country illegally.
Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) has been pushing the Patriot Spouses Act, which would allow Alejandra Juarez to remain in the country, but the bill was not taken up by a House committee.
Soto accompanied the family to the airport on Friday, AP noted.
“It’s an absolute disgrace by the Trump administration to be deporting a patriotic spouse,” Soto said. “Her husband, Temo, served in the Marines … while she was at home on the home-front, raising two young women. What justice does this serve?”
The family’s attorney, Chelsea Nowel, said Alejandra Juarez has no criminal record besides her illegal entry.
“The United States has a lot of policies in place to protect veterans and active duty and their families, and it is absolutely, incredibly, frustrating that these are not being made available to the wife of a decorated veteran who has served overseas multiple times,” Nowel said, according to Military Times.
Juarez no longer has friends or family living in Mexico, so she will be living in the Yucatan city of Merida, where there is a small community of other military spouses who have been deported, the AP noted.
Once she is settled, Estela will go to join her mother. Pamela will stay behind with her father, who now owns a roofing business.
Juarez said that if given the chance, she would ask Trump how he could allow this to happen to a military family when he “always says he loves the military.”
“My husband fought for this country three times. The administration, yourself, you think you are punishing me,” Juarez said. “You’re not just punishing me. I hope this make him happy. Perhaps we will forgive him.”