Arelys Barahona Martinez: Retired Staff Sgt. Wilmer Trujillo urges immigration officials for his wife’s release, citing medical needs of their son. (Wilmer Trujillo)
Retired Staff Sgt. Wilmer Trujillo stated that his wife, Arelys Barahona-Martinez, 40, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday during a scheduled check-in at an agency office in Dallas.
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Arelys Barahona-Martinez in ICE custody: 5 things to know as husband seeks her release
- In a conversation with CBS News on Friday, Trujillo, 45, expressed that his “heart broke” upon learning that his wife would be “detained and deported.”
- Trujillo stated that he joined the military in the late 1990s, immediately following his high school graduation. He mentioned that he served in the Army for around four years and then in the Texas National Guard for an additional 16 years, during which he was deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired in 2021.
- “I don’t want to hate on ICE. I don’t want to hate on anybody, but yeah, it boggles me. It rips my heart apart,” Trujillo stated. “I love this country, and for this country to rip apart my family and take away my wife; she’s my rock and she is my backbone to this family.”
- Trujillo and Barahona-Martinez were married in 2020, according to legal documents. They reside in Princeton, Texas, along with Trujillo’s daughters from a previous marriage and Barahona-Martinez’s 20-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen and has neurofibromatosis, a medical condition that has resulted in the development of tumors, including one on his nose. Trujillo mentioned that they have formed a close-knit family over the years.
- In a statement provided to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security stated that ICE apprehended Barahona-Martinez on June 10, highlighting that she had entered the United States unlawfully. The department referenced a deportation order that dates back over 20 years. “Barahona-Martinez received full due process and was issued a final order of removal from an immigration judge on November 2, 2005,” DHS said. “The Trump administration is not going to ignore the rule of law. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the U.S.”
Barahona-Martinez arrest: Here’s what her lawyer has to say
As of Friday, Barahona-Martinez was detained by ICE at the Diamondback Correctional Facility located in Watonga, Oklahoma, as per the agency’s online detainee tracker.
Mark Shmueli, the immigration attorney representing Barahona-Martinez, stated that his client has no criminal history. He mentioned that she initially entered the U.S. illegally by crossing the southern border in 2005, where she gave birth to her son before returning to Honduras with him in 2006.
Shmueli confirmed that a deportation order was issued for Barahona-Martinez in 2005; however, he noted that the order was given “in absentia” since she did not attend a hearing of which she was unaware.
According to government documents, Barahona-Martinez crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally for a second time in 2018. Both Trujillo and Shmueli indicated that she returned to the U.S. out of desperation, citing her U.S.-born son’s need for extensive medical care. Trujillo also mentioned that gang members in Honduras were attempting to recruit his wife’s son.
Several military spouses have been freed from ICE custody following media coverage and intervention from congressional members, such as in the case of Deisy Rivera-Ortega, who is married to an active-duty Army soldier. She was taken into custody by ICE in April and was released last month, although her deportation proceedings remain ongoing.
Shmueli further said that a similar resolution should be reached in this instance, considering Barahona-Martinez’s clean criminal record, her marriage to a retired staff sergeant, and the medical condition of her American son. He emphasized that Barahona-Martinez has a viable route to obtaining a green card through her marriage to a U.S. citizen.
‘Let my wife go,’ says Trujillo
However, in order for her to qualify for a Green Card, it is necessary for her deportation case to be reopened in immigration court, thereby nullifying her removal order. Shmueli mentioned that there is a pending request to reopen her immigration court case, and he also intends to submit an application for Parole-in-Place, a specialized program designed to safeguard certain military spouses or parents from deportation.
Trujillo mentioned that ICE is regarding his wife as a serious criminal, appealing to the agency to permit her to pursue her immigration case outside of detention.
“My message to ICE is: I’m not asking for favors. I know a lot of military members are going through this. I am just asking [ICE] to let my wife go,” he said. “Don’t break this family apart.”
