Key facts
- Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, wife of U.S. Army Sergeant Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, was deported to Honduras on Monday.
- She is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty U.S. military service member to be deported under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
- Villafranca-Trejo was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 11.
- Sergeant Turcios Juarez became a U.S. citizen in 2024 after a deployment to the Middle East.
- The Department of Homeland Security stated she received due process.
Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, the wife of an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant, was deported to Honduras on Monday. This action is the latest example of the impact of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown on relatives of U.S. military members.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Villafranca-Trejo's removal from the United States. Her husband, Army Sergeant Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, told ABC News that his wife, who is the mother of a 6-year-old child, was deported.
According to an Associated Press tally, Villafranca-Trejo is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty U.S. military service member to be deported under the current administration's immigration policies. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of DHS, arrested her on July 11 during what the department described as a "targeted immigration enforcement operation." DHS stated that she received due process.
Sergeant Turcios Juarez had previously stated that ICE officers detained his wife outside a Walmart in July while their daughter witnessed the event. He mentioned that his wife had left Honduras in 2016 due to violent crime. DHS alleged that she had entered the United States illegally.
Turcios Juarez joined the military and became a U.S. citizen in 2024, following a nine-month deployment to the Middle East. He had reportedly begun the process of seeking citizenship for his wife, hoping his military service would expedite her naturalization. The report also noted that over the preceding weekend, the immigrant father of a U.S. sailor was taken into federal immigration custody.
President Trump has implemented an immigration crackdown that includes visa and green card revocations and an aggressive deportation strategy, which he states is aimed at enhancing domestic security. However, rights groups have raised concerns that the crackdown infringes upon free speech and due process rights, potentially creating an unsafe environment, particularly for ethnic minorities, due to fears of racial profiling. The administration's policies have also reportedly made legal immigration more difficult, including the imposition of new fees for certain work visa applicants.