FACT SHEET: Trump’s Deportation Machine Is Betraying Veterans and Tearing Their Families Apart.

On Veterans Day, America honors the courage and sacrifice of all who wore our nation’s uniform – including the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have defended our freedom. Yet even as the military recruits immigrants to fill critical roles, Trump’s mass deportation machine is targeting veterans who served this country.

The cruel irony is unmistakable: America asks immigrants to risk their lives for our freedom, then its government deports them and tears their families apart.

Immigrants Have Always Been Essential To America’s Military Strength:

Immigrants have fought in every U.S. conflict since the Revolutionary War. Today, they remain vital to our nation’s defense and readiness. To serve in the U.S. military, individuals must be either U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

●     Immigrant veterans now make up a growing share of America’s veteran community – rising from about 2% in 1990 to 4.5% today, a total of nearly 731,000 veterans born outside of the U.S.

●     More than 40,000 immigrants currently serve in the U.S. Armed Forces as of 2024 – filling critical roles from medics to cyber defense specialists.

●     Over 52,000 service members have become citizens in the last five years (FY 2020–2024). In FY 2024 alone, 16,290 service members naturalized — a 34% increase from the previous year.

These numbers tell a simple truth: America’s military depends on immigrants who believe deeply in the nation they defend.

The Military Needs Immigrants Now More Than Ever:

America’s armed forces face a historic recruitment crisis, missing enlistment targets across every branch. To meet critical staffing needs, the Army and Air Force have expanded recruitment of legal permanent residents in recent years, offering expedited citizenship upon completion of basic training.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient herself, has championed legislation allowing DACA recipients and other qualified immigrants to serve. As she said:

“If you are qualified and willing to wear the uniform to serve the nation honorably, you ought to be able to earn citizenship.”

Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Is Devastating Veterans And Military Families:

Trump’s administration has rescinded ICE protections that previously treated military service as a mitigating factor in enforcement decisions. As a result, veterans and military family members who were previously protected are now being arrested, detained, and deported – not as isolated incidents, but as the result of systematic policy changes that removed safeguards for military-connected families.

●     Multiple veterans have faced criminal prosecution or are seeking legal damages after being wrongfully detained by immigration authorities.

●     Sae Joon Park, a Purple Heart recipient who served on the front lines, had his deferred action protection revoked in June 2025 after checking in regularly with immigration officials for 14 years, forcing him to self-deport.

○     “They allowed me to join, serve the country — front line, taking bullets for this country. That should mean something,” he said. “This is how veterans are being treated.”

●     During a September 2025 family visit to Camp Pendleton, the parents of an active-duty Marine were detained and the father deported — forcing their son to watch his family torn apart on the very military base where he serves.

●     Narciso Barranco, father of three U.S. Marines, was pinned to the ground by three ICE agents and repeatedly punched in the head and neck during a workplace raid at his landscaping job in Santa Ana, California in June 2025.

●     Julio Torres, a green card-holding veteran who came to the U.S. at age 5, now lives in fear of ICE raids, afraid to leave his neighborhood.

○  “It breaks my heart that I fought for this nation to raise my children here, and now I have to pull them out if I get deported,” he said. “Then what did I fight for?”

Veterans are speaking out against mass deportation:

Despite the risks and pain of sharing their stories, veterans who have been deported or detained – along with those who stand with them – are speaking out publicly to demand justice. From testimony before Congress to protests outside detention centers, these veterans and their allies refuse to let their service be forgotten or their families torn apart in silence.

●     Dana Briggs, a 70-year-old Air Force veteran, was arrested and thrown to the ground while peacefully protesting outside the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois.

○     “They didn’t give me time to move. All I saw was a hand coming at me after I handed my phone off.”

●     Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran whose father was detained, testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in July.

○     “The people being ripped from our communities are hardworking, honest, patriotic people who are raising America’s teachers, nurses, and Marines. Deporting them doesn’t just hurt my family. It hurts all of us.”

●     George Retes, a 25-year-old Army veteran and U.S. citizen, was wrongfully detained for three days during an ICE raid at his workplace in California, pepper-sprayed and dragged from his vehicle despite identifying himself.

○     “It doesn’t matter if you’re a veteran or you serve this country. They don’t care.”

●     U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a Bronze Star recipient and former Army Ranger, responded to reports of veterans being arrested and injured at ICE protests.

○     “I went to war three times for this country to defend the right of Americans to say things I may not like. Now is the time for every American to speak out.”

Bipartisan legislation seeks to protect veteran immigrants:

Bipartisan legislation recently introduced by Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), and Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R–American Samoa) would require DHS to identify veteran immigrants and provide them a pathway to lawful status.

●     Rep. Mark Takano: “If you are willing to raise your right hand, put on the uniform, and defend this country, you should have a clear path to citizenship. Standing up for our veterans has always been bipartisan, and this bill carries that tradition forward.”

●     Rep. María Elvira Salazar: “Fighting for America is one of the greatest, most noble acts a person can do, and it breaks my heart that noncitizen veterans might be deported despite their service.”

On Veterans Day, honoring service means more than words or parades – it means keeping our promise to those who defended us. No veteran or military family should live in fear of deportation and separation. Protecting immigrant veterans isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s what America stands for.