Marine‘s Father Deported by ICE After Base Visit, Family in Limbo
CAMP PENDLETON, CA – The father of a U.S. Marine was arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after visiting his pregnant daughter at Camp Pendleton, according to reports from NBC 7 and family accounts.The incident has left the Marine and his sister grappling with uncertainty about their parents’ future.
The parents, who have lived in the U.S.for 30 years after coming from Mexico, were detained at the front gate of the base while visiting their daughter, Ashley, who is expecting her first child. ICE agents arrested the father while he was wearing a red shirt and white hat proclaiming “Proud dad of a US Marine.” He was later deported. The fate of the mother remains unclear.
“My brother texted me that they got stopped. And as soon as I heard that,I just started bawling,” Ashley Rios recalled,fighting back tears. “It’s just hard because you just want to hear your parents’ voices and know everything will be OK. I’d always want my mom in that delivery room and everything, so it’s hard not to think about them.”
The Marine, identified as Rios, joined the Corps to make his parents proud and is currently serving in the reserves after four years of active duty. He had sponsored his parents’ applications for green cards and work visas, wich were pending at the time of their detention.
“It was just making them proud, right? I’ve seen all the struggles they’ve gone through,” Rios said. “The least I could do, right, and serve this country and try to, you know, put some time in. I don’t think amounts to what they’ve done.”
family members describe their parents as hardworking, law-abiding individuals with no criminal record, earning a living by washing cars and cleaning houses. Rios stated the experience was frightening, as he had long worried about this possibility.
The family was initially held at a facility that houses ICE and immigration court before being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
In a statement to NBC 7, an ICE spokesperson said the agency “arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” adding that all individuals found to be in violation of U.S. immigration law are subject to arrest, detention, and potential removal.
