Miguel Perez Jr., a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan, was deported to Mexico on Friday following a felony drug conviction.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the deportation of Perez, who had been a legal resident of the U.S. since age 11, CNN reported. Perez’s parents and his children are U.S. citizens, and Perez said he believed his service had granted him citizenship as well. (It didn't. Non-citizens who served honorably in the military after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks were allowed to to apply for citizenship according to a new law signed by then-President George W. Bush.)
Perez said he developed PTSD after his tours in Afghanistan and began drinking and using drugs that a friend provided for him, CNN reported. He was convicted in 2010 of delivering more than 2 pounds of cocaine to an undercover officer, then sentenced to 15 years in jail. His green card was revoked.
ICE began deportation proceedings in 2016 and Perez Jr. has been in the agency’s custody since then.
After finding out he was not automatically made a citizen because of his military service, he applied retroactively but was denied earlier in March, CNN reported.
Perez went on a hunger strike earlier this year because he feared Mexican drug cartels would try to forcibly recruit him and would kill him if he didn’t cooperate, CNN reported.
Perez’s lawyer said he was taken across the Mexican border in a dangerous area with no money and in his prison uniform, and handed over to Mexican authorities, NBC News reported. “We will continue to fight his case and appeal his citizenship denial,” Bergen said.
Perez was also supported by Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth. “This is a deplorable way to treat a veteran who risked his life in combat for our nation,” she said, NBC News reported.
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