A Family’s Separation: A Marine’s Struggle
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre confronts daily questions from his children that he finds difficult to answer. His two-year-old son Noah frequently asks about his mother’s whereabouts, to which Adrian responds, “Mama will be back soon.” Meanwhile, his three-month-old daughter Lyn, who was previously breastfeeding, now relies on formula.
Their mother, Paola, is currently held in an ICE detention facility, located eight hours away, awaiting a decision on her potential deportation to Mexico.
The Unexpected Detention of a Veteran’s Wife
Adrian Clouatre, a 26-year-old veteran who served five years in the Marine Corps and is classified as a service-disabled veteran, never anticipated that his wife would be detained by immigration authorities as she sought legal permanent residency.
Paola, 25, entered the United States from Mexico as a child when her mother pursued asylum. However, in 2018, an immigration judge ordered her deportation due to her mother’s absence at a court hearing, an event Paola claims she was unaware of. Separated from her mother and having grown up in shelters, Paola believed her marriage to a U.S. citizen would smooth her path to legal residency.
Instead, during a green card appointment on May 27, immigration officials detained her.
Changing Immigration Policies Impact Military Families
Previously, military families received special consideration in immigration matters. However, the Trump administration’s stringent enforcement policies now target 3,000 arrests daily. A February memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that exemptions for certain groups, including families of active-duty military and veterans, have been removed. By June 12, USCIS had forwarded over 26,000 cases to ICE.
“It’s just a hell of a way to treat a veteran,” commented Carey Holliday, a former immigration judge now representing the couple. “You take their wives and send them back to Mexico?”
Recruitment Promises and Reality
Despite recent stricter policies, military recruiters have continued to suggest that enlistment offers protection for undocumented family members. Campaigns targeting Latino communities have advertised military service as a potential route to immigration relief.
However, this notion is being corrected. Marine Corps spokesperson Master Sgt. Tyler Hlavac confirmed that recruiters have been advised against promising immigration benefits, stating they are “not the proper authority” to make such assurances.
Hoping for Legal Reconsideration
The Clouatre family awaits the reopening of Paola’s immigration case in a California court. Meanwhile, Adrian manages the household and visits his wife at the distant detention facility when possible.
As he comforts his baby daughter to sleep, bottle in hand, he continues to reassure her, “Mama will be back soon.”
