ICE releases wife of US soldier and Afghanistan veteran from detention

ICE releases wife of US soldier and Afghanistan veteran from detention1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKayla EpsteinCourtesy of attorney Matthew KozikUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released the wife of a US Army sergeant and Afghanistan veteran from detention, her lawyer confirmed to the BBC.Deisy Rivera Ortega, who came to the US from El Salvador, was arrested on 14 April when she and her husband, Sgt Jose Serrano, went in for a scheduled immigration appointment in El Paso, Texas.Serrano, who has served in the military for nearly 28 years, told the BBC that his wife's detention had left him distraught."We celebrate her release," Matthew James Kozik, who represented Rivera Ortega in her federal detention case, said in a statement.The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In a video he shared with CBS News, Serrano can be seen driving home with his wife in the passengers' seat."Deisy is out of the detention facility and we're going home today," he said.At the time of her arrest, Serrano and Rivera Ortega were applying for a programme called parole-in-place, which allows military spouses to remain in the US while their immigration cases move forwardThe couple had gathered documentation about their marriage, work, and status, according to paperwork her attorney provided the BBC. The couple married in 2022, according to a marriage certificate, and Serrano was born in Puerto Rico, making him a US citizen by birth.During their appointment, immigration authorities said there was an issue with the documentation, Serrano told the BBC. They led the couple down a hallway, where officers suddenly detained Rivera Ortega.DHS said that Rivera Ortega was a "criminal illegal alien from El Salvador" convicted of the "federal offense" of entering the US illegally. Rivera Ortega crossed the US-Mexico border in 2016, DHS said.In 2019, a judge ordered Rive...