"Born in Venezuela to Cuban parents who fled the Castro regime, he moved to Miami at the age of four, where he grew up as a legal resident thanks to his parents' refugee status. As a teenager, he enlisted and completed two tours in Iraq. A few years after returning home, he got into a fight during a night out that ended in gunfire."
"He was sentenced to 55 years in prison for attempted murder. He served more than a decade of that sentence as a model inmate before being granted parole only to be immediately detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Sergeant Barco's case is not unique. In the United States, there are more than 100,000 military veterans without citizenship and, therefore, at risk of deportation during Trump-era crackdowns, according to congressional data."
Sergeant Jose Barco, a wounded Iraq War veteran, was released from prison after 15 years only to be immediately detained by immigration agents and held in detention centers awaiting deportation. Born in Venezuela to Cuban refugee parents, he grew up in Miami as a legal resident, enlisted at 17, and completed two tours in Iraq. A post-service altercation led to a 55-year sentence; he served over a decade as a model inmate before parole and immediate ICE detention. More than 100,000 veterans lack citizenship and face deportation risks; military service can offer an expedited but not guaranteed path to citizenship.
Read at english.elpais.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]