# Serving the country while ICE takes their families > Soldiers are enlisting to protect their parents from deportation, and watching ICE detain them anyway. - Title: Serving the country while ICE takes their families · ABC News - Summary: Soldiers are enlisting to protect their parents from deportation, and watching ICE detain them anyway. The military is leaning harder on immigrant… - Keywords: immigration, military, ice, recruiting, deportation, news, Serving, country, while, takes, families, ABC News - Source: ABC News — https://abcnews.com/Politics/ice-deports-service-members-families-pentagon-turns-immigrant/story?id=136375571 - Author: ABC News - Read time: 3 min - Topics: immigration, military, ice, recruiting, deportation, news ## She enlisted for her parents Army Spc. Jasmine Hernandez joined in part to shield her father, who came from Guanajuato, Mexico, at 17 without papers. She wanted him to stop living in fear. > I walked into the recruiter's office. I felt like I needed to do something for my parents. ## It didn't work Her service did not keep her father out of ICE custody. He was detained earlier this year, one of several military families swept into the Trump administration's crackdown. ## A program built for this Shortly after joining in 2024, Hernandez applied to put her father, Aniceto Hernandez-Reyna, into Military Parole in Place, which can let undocumented relatives of troops stay. ## The Army calls it readiness An April Army legal notice frames the program as a matter of preparedness: worry about a relative's status pulls a soldier's head out of the job. > Such personal concerns have the potential to adversely affect a service member's ability to focus on mission-essential duties ## Detained at a gas station On May 16, more than a year after the application was filed, ICE officers took Hernandez-Reyna outside Phoenix in front of his two younger sons. His daughter was 2,000 miles away at Fort Stewart, Georgia. ## Pending is not protected The parole program works case by case, usually in one-year increments, and can open a path to work authorization. DHS says a pending application confers nothing. > Programs like Military Parole in Place are not automatic, and having a pending application does not confer legal status ## Not the worst of the worst Trump says the crackdown targets the worst criminal offenders. An ABC News review of state and federal records found no violent crime for Hernandez-Reyna, just traffic violations and a 2002 DUI. ## Serving while stressed Her father is still held at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She has spoken with him once since May and does not know when she will hear from him again. > That was a slap in the face. I'm here serving the country, and this happens to my own family. ## More than 50 families An Associated Press investigation in April counted over 50 spouses and parents of service members detained during Trump's second term, at least six of them deported. ## Detained days after the wedding ICE held Annie Ramos, 22, the Honduras-born wife of Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank, as she registered for military benefits at Fort Polk, Louisiana, days after they married. > All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby. ## An order from when she was a baby The removal order dated to 2005, when Ramos was 20 months old. She was freed after five days with an ankle monitor, though DHS said it would keep pursuing deportation. ## Green-card recruiting is booming The military signed nearly 11,000 green-card holders last year, up from about 6,800 in 2021, a 62% jump. Non-citizens still cannot commission as officers. ## Citizenship as the payoff Troops can apply for expedited citizenship after a year of service. Naturalizations through the military have more than tripled since 2020, topping 16,000 in 2024. ## A very large pool There were roughly 13 million green-card holders as of January 2025, many in mixed-status families. About 50,000 foreign nationals serve now, with 125,000 foreign national veterans in the US. ## An old bargain Congress eased naturalization for foreign-born troops during the Civil War, and each world war made citizens of more than 100,000 service members. > It has long been a way to fill the ranks ## The Hispanic enlistment surge In the Army, Hispanic recruits were nearly 27% of new soldiers last year, up from just under 20% in 2020. It is the sharpest demographic shift in the ranks in a generation. ## The pool keeps shrinking Only about 23% of Americans aged 17 to 24 can qualify to serve, and the SAT-style entrance exam trips up some English learners. The number turning 18 is set to fall 13% by 2041. ## ICE moves onto the bases Agents were posted at Camp Pendleton, Quantico and Marine Corps Base Hawaii last year. A quarter of Marines are Hispanic. ## A judge pushes back Esteban Rios Sosa was deported after being stopped at Camp Pendleton's gate while visiting his pregnant daughter. A federal judge ruled his due process rights were violated and ordered his return. ## Key takeaway The military is leaning harder on immigrant communities for recruits at the same moment the immigration crackdown is reaching those same families.