Marine Veteran Struggles to Reunite Family After Wife’s ICE Detention

Adrian Clouatre, a Marine veteran, never thought he would be taking care of his newborn daughter and toddler son by himself. When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested his wife, Paola, last month, leaving the young family in limbo, that became his reality.

Noah, Clouatre's almost-2-year-old son, always asks why his mother is not there to tuck him in at night. Every night, Clouatre tells him, "Mama will be back soon." He used to breastfeed his 3-month-old daughter Lyn, but now she drinks from a bottle. Clouatre is worried about how the baby's brief separation from her mother will affect her physical and emotional growth without regular skin-to-skin touch with her.

Paola is one of the tens of thousands of people being held by ICE and fearing deportation because of the Trump administration's stronger push to bring in more immigrants. Recent news sources say that the federal government has set a goal of making 3,000 arrests every day. These policies have broken long-standing ones that gave families of active-duty service members and veterans more freedom.

Immigration lawyers and activists say that Paola's detention is part of a larger trend: taking away rights for military families. Experts say that current police guidelines are weakening the protections that military service used to offer to undocumented family members.

In a strange twist, Marine Corps recruiters still promote military service as a way for mixed-status families to find security and safety. But Clouatre's case makes that promise look bad.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the government office responsible for assisting military families, has not commented publicly on Paola's case. At the same time, Clouatre has to deal with the stress of being a single parent, financial difficulties, and uncertainty about when his family will be reunited.

He said, "I served my country."  Now, Clouatre just wants his family back.

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