ICE Detains Honduran Wife of US Army Veteran in Texas

The Honduran wife of a US veteran was detained from her scheuled immigration appointment in Dallas, Texas, making this the third case of a military spouse getting arrested by ICE in recent months.

Arelys Barahona Martinez is originally from Honduras and first crossed the US border in 2005. She later left the US and returned in 2018. She did not come legally either of the time and the DHS confirmed the arrest and said there has been nothing wrong in the arrest as she is an illegal. But her family said she was in the middle of an appeal.

"I just don't understand, we have a family here, and they're breaking us up," her husband, retired Staff Sergeant Wilmer Trujillo, told the BBC. "They're breaking my family up. She's my backbone."

They got married in 2020. While Barahona Martinez has a 20-year-old son from her previous marriage, Trujillo has two daughters from his previous marriage.

Barahona Martinez "received full due process and was issued a final order of removal from an immigration judge on November 2, 2005," a DHS spokesperson said. "The Trump administration is not going to ignore the rule of law. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the US. "

On Wednesday, Trujillo took Barahona Martinez to an immigration check-in and waited while she met with immigration officers. "To us, it was a regular check-up day; we were always doing everything by the book," Trujillo said. "I told her to do everything by the book. I'm by-the-book, I've been brought up military."

Though Martinez entered the US illegally, she applied for the parole in place program but it was rejected in November 2024. Trujillo, on the other hand, is a naturalized US citizen originally from Colombia

In April, ICE detained and later released Deisy Rivera Ortega, the wife of an active-duty US Army soldier in Texas, after she and her husband went to interview for the parole-in-place programme. DHS said that Rivera Ortega was a "criminal illegal alien from El Salvador" who committed a "federal offence" by entering the US illegally via the southern border in 2016.

ICE also detained Annie Ramos, the newlywed wife of an active duty US soldier, in April when she and her husband went to obtain her military ID. She spent five days in detention before her release. Ramos is an undocumented immigrant who came to the US as a toddler, and DHS has said she not have legal status.