• Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre's wife, Paola, was detained by ICE during a green card application meeting.
• The family's plight highlights the impact of recent immigration policies on military families.
• Adrian Clouatre has to travel eight hours round trip to visit his detained wife.
• Experts say ICE's actions reflect a stricter stance on deportation for families of military personnel.
• The couple has filed for reopening Paola's deportation case but is awaiting a decision.

Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre is grappling with how to explain to his children the sudden absence of their mother, Paola, who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month. Clouatre reports that when their almost two-year-old son Noah asks where his mother is, he simply replies, "Mama will be back soon." Meanwhile, their three-month-old daughter Lyn, who is still breastfeeding, now must rely on formula, which worries Clouatre about the lack of skin-to-skin contact that is essential for newborn bonding. Paola is among tens of thousands facing deportation as the Trump administration aims to increase arrests to 3,000 individuals daily, according to sfgate, CBS News, and HuffPost.

Adrian Clouatre, who qualifies as a service-disabled veteran, must undertake an eight-hour round trip from their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to the ICE detention center in Monroe to visit his wife. Paola, 25, a Mexican national, entered the U.S. with her mother more than a decade ago seeking asylum. They met at a nightclub in Southern California in 2022, and within a year, had tattooed each other's names on their arms. Their marriage in 2024 was supposed to benefit them under the U.S. immigration system, but Paola encountered unexpected obstacles when she learned of a deportation order from 2018, which she was unaware of, during her green card application process, according to sfgate and HuffPost.

The challenges intensified when, after a May 27 appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) concerning the green card process, Paola was detained. Following an inquiry about the deportation order, she and Adrian were asked to wait in the lobby, where officers then arrived to handcuff her, an incident Adrian believes was a tactic to catch her unaware of her precarious situation. "It's just a hell of a way to treat a veteran," commented Carey Holliday, a former immigration judge and the couple's attorney, as they await a response on their motion to reopen the deportation case with an immigration judge, according to CBS News and HuffPost.

The Department of Homeland Security has clarified that Paola Clouatre remains in the country unlawfully, insisting there will be no exceptions to deportation policies. Ignoring previous orders may lead to further complications, indicating a lack of flexibility in dealings with military families and veterans. Prior to the current strict policies, there was more leeway for military personnel petitioning for family members. As of June 12, over 26,000 cases were referred to ICE for deportation, suggesting a marked change in enforcement philosophy under the current administration, as noted by immigration law experts sfgate, CBS News, and HuffPost.

Although USCIS continues to advertise programs allowing illegal family members of military personnel the chance to avoid deportation while applying for green cards, the prevailing atmosphere appears to eliminate much of this previously granted leniency. Marine Corps recruiters have also been under scrutiny for their promotions that suggest enlistment could protect families from deportation, despite changing circumstances under the current administration. "It's sending the wrong message to the recruits," commented legal experts on the implications of such advertisements, further complicating the environment surrounding military families dealing with immigration issues, according to sfgate and CBS News.