Key facts
- Arelys Barahona Martinez, wife of retired US Army Staff Sergeant Wilmer Trujillo, was detained by ICE.
- Martinez has an active order of removal from 2005 for illegally crossing the US border.
- Her application for parole in place was denied by USCIS.
- Her attorney has filed a motion to prevent her deportation.
- Martinez is at least the third military spouse detained by ICE recently.
Arelys Barahona Martinez, the wife of a retired US Army Staff Sergeant, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after attending a scheduled immigration appointment in Dallas, Texas. She was subsequently transferred to a detention facility in Oklahoma.
Martinez, originally from Honduras, first entered the US in 2005 and received a final order of removal from an immigration judge that same year. She later left the US and returned in 2018, crossing the border illegally again. Immigration authorities granted her supervised release upon her return in 2018. Her husband, Wilmer Trujillo, who served nearly 20 years in the US Army and Texas National Guard, expressed his bewilderment and distress over her detention, stating the family was following all procedures.
After marrying Trujillo in 2020, Martinez applied for the parole in place program to obtain residency, but her application was rejected in November 2024 by USCIS because of the outstanding 2005 removal order. Her attorney, Mark Shmueli, is working to have the 2005 order rescinded and has filed a motion to prevent her deportation until a judge can hear the case. ICE acknowledged the motion and indicated her case might be eligible for a stay.
Martinez's detention marks at least the third instance in recent months of an ICE detainment of a US military spouse during a scheduled appointment. Immigration advocates suggest a shift in government posture, with a new ICE memorandum under the Trump administration superseding a Biden-era directive that had considered active military service a significant mitigating factor for enforcement decisions regarding family members.