The wife of an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant was detained by ICE last week and is being threatened with deportation to a third country to which the couple has no ties.
Deisy Fidelina Rivera Ortega was taken into custody on April 14, 2026, in El Paso, Texas, when she showed up to a routine immigration interview for “Parole in Place,” a program that allows undocumented family members of military personnel to reside in the U.S. legally.
Sergeant’s Wife Detained by ICE
In 2022, Rivera Ortega married Sergeant 1st Class Jose Serrano, a U.S. Army sergeant who has served on active duty for 27 years, is currently stationed at Fort Bliss, and has been deployed three times to Afghanistan. Serrano told ABC News that they have been “doing everything by the book.”
“She goes to work or to church,” Serrano said. “That’s the life of my wife, Deisy.” Now they are at risk of having their entire world turned upside down after several unidentified men detained his wife at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building.
“At the end of the hallway, my wife was apprehended… they put handcuffs on, and they took her away,” Serrano described to ABC News. “And nobody told me anything, even when I was asking, ‘Hey, what’s going on? What’s going on with her?’”
Deportation to Mexico
Rivera Ortega currently works for IHG Army Hotels at Fort Bliss with a valid work permit through 2030. She was previously granted withholding of removal from her home country, El Salvador, but now faces potential deportation to Mexico, a country she has no ties to.
Serrano educated the media, saying that, as an active-duty sergeant, he would unlikely be able to travel to Mexico if she were deported because of the strict restrictions in place. “We don’t know nobody in Mexico,” he said. “Plus, as a military, we’re not allowed to go to Mexico.”
“In the Army, travel to Mexico is extremely restrictive,” Matthew Kozik, the couple’s attorney, said. “He couldn’t even just go see his wife.”
Kozik said Rivera Ortega is being held at the El Paso Service Processing Center. “She was detained at a federal government building,” Kozik said. “They wouldn’t let anybody ask any questions, and she was escorted away, and we haven’t seen her since.”
DHS Defends Its Actions
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security stated to ABC News saying that Rivera Ortega is in the country illegally and was not issued a final order of removal. “Rivera Ortega remains in ICE custody pending removal,” they said.
However, Kozik argued that Rivera Ortega was granted withholding of removal from El Salvador by an immigration judge in 2019, court documents show. While she was not issued a final order of removal, she is still not subject to immediate removal due to the judge’s ruling.
“She is entitled to the right to contest those third-party designations… she has a right to contest any termination,” Kozik said. “We are completely in the dark, and that’s why we’ve had to go to federal court to stop this.”
Army Sergeant Struggles with PTSD
Serrano has apparently been seeing a doctor for his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is common amongst military personnel, especially long-time active duty members. He said that since his wife was detained last week, he has been under a lot more stress than usual.
“I can’t sleep even with the medication, I can’t even read,” he said. “It’s super painful and stressful to not be able to do anything.”
ICE Out
Serrano also acknowledged in an interview that ICE is clearly responsible for this unfortunate situation, saying they are taking away the rights of citizens, even U.S. soldiers. “I don’t really understand why, because she followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one,” Serrano said in an interview.
“I love the Army. (The) Army helped me out for almost 28 years. It’s not the Army, sir. It’s ICE,” he said. “ICE is out of control right now, sir, taking away rights, as soldiers, that we have.”
