Immigrant veterans fear deportation amid Trump's mass removal campaign

President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign has intensified fears among immigrant veterans, particularly those with criminal convictions, that they could be expelled from the United States. Benito Miranda Hernandez, a veteran who served three tours in Iraq, expressed his frustration, stating, "I was willing to die for this f***ing country. And you want to try to deport me?" Hernandez, who does not have U.S. citizenship, is concerned about being detained by immigration agents upon his release from a reentry program.

As of January, Trump's administration has forcibly removed at least 675,000 individuals, with a focus on what officials describe as the "worst of the worst." Hernandez, who was brought to the U.S. as a child and has three U.S. citizen children, represents a growing population of immigrant veterans facing deportation risks. Nearly 731,000 military veterans are immigrants, with an estimated 118,000 lacking citizenship. The threat of deportation looms particularly large for those with criminal records, as roughly a third of veterans are arrested at least once in their lifetimes.

The deportation of veterans is not a new issue; however, the current administration's aggressive stance has heightened concerns among this demographic. The lack of consistent reporting by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the veteran status of individuals in deportation proceedings complicates the situation further. Experts note that deportations are often indiscriminate, affecting veterans as part of broader immigration enforcement actions.

What to watch: The ongoing deportation campaign and its impact on immigrant veterans, particularly as Hernandez's sentence concludes in August.