This Afghanistan vet spent his 40th birthday in Mexico, but only because he was deported there
newsdepo.com
U.S. military veteran Miguel Perez, Jr. spent his 40th birthday in Mexico, not because it was a trip of his own choosing, but because he was deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month. Perez had been detained since 2016, after gettinThis Afghanistan vet spent his 40th birthday in Mexico, but only because he was deported there
U.S. military veteran Miguel Perez, Jr. spent his 40th birthday in Mexico, not because it was a trip of his own choosing, but because he was deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month. Perez had been detained since 2016, after getting his green card revoked over a nonviolent drug conviction. Perez “said that what he saw and experienced in Afghanistan sent his life off the rails,” leading him to struggle with PTSD and addiction. He needed help. Instead, the Trump administration deported him, “homeless and penniless in a dangerous place, without food or money or clothes or needed medications,” said Rev. Emma Lozano, one of his advocates. “This is an intolerable way to treat a man who fought bravely for this nation”: Perez was deported last month after a year-and-a-half-long battle with the immigration court system. He said he was left in Matamoros, Mexico, a border city across the bridge from Brownsville, Texas, without money or clothes. Perez says he was given a few doses of Prozac and two other medications that he takes to treat his PTSD. A fellow veteran traveled from Chicago to Matamoros to help Perez get to Tijuana, where he has been living since. Perez, Jr. spent his birthday there and called it “great” because he was “free” from detention. But he misses Chicago, his home. “I’m still fighting to get back home,” he told Latino USA. “My family, friends and my community are there.” Following his deportation, the Chicago Tribune reported that “Perez is one of many veterans, some of whom sustained injuries and emotional trauma during combat, who have been decorated for service, then confronted with the possibility of deportation after committing a crime”: As with many others, Perez mistakenly thought he became a U.S. citizen when he took an oath to protect the nation. He discovered that was not the case when he was summoned to immigration court shortly before his release from a state penitentiary. Read more