Newlywed wife of US soldier freed by ICE after detention at military base

Annie Ramos, an undocumented immigrant who came to the US as a toddler, had gone to the base to complete paperwork so the couple could move in together.

Annie Ramos, a 22-year-old Honduran-born wife of a U.S. Army staff sergeant, was released from federal immigration detention after nearly a week in custody. She was detained while attempting to register at her husband's Louisiana military base to receive military benefits and apply for a green card. Ramos has lived in the U.S. since she was a toddler and had been ordered removed in 2005 after her family missed an immigration hearing. Her detention sparked backlash for potentially undermining troop morale during wartime.

The wife of a U.S. Army staff sergeant has been released from immigration detention as removal proceedings move forward after she was detained just days after their wedding while on a Louisiana military base, where the couple was planning to live together. Annie Ramos, a 22-year-old college student, was released Tuesday, according to TheDream.US, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to undocumented immigrants, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Annie Ramos, a 22-year-old Army wife and college student, was detained by ICE at Fort Polk, Louisiana, while attempting to obtain a military ID to live with her husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank. Despite having no criminal record and being close to applying for legal residency through marriage, she was arrested and held for several days. Upon her release, she was fitted with a GPS ankle monitor and must report weekly to ICE as removal proceedings continue.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained the wife of a US army staff sergeant at his military base in Louisiana amid his preparations to deploy. The arrest of Annie Ramos, 22, took place just days after she married 23-year-old Matthew Blank. Ramos, a biochemistry student with no criminal history, had been subject to a deportation order issued in absentia in 2005 when she was an infant after her family missed an immigration court hearing.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant is trying to halt his wife’s deportation after she was detained inside a Louisiana military base where the couple was planning to live together just days after their wedding. The effort to remove the soldier’s wife, who was born in Honduras and remained in a federal immigration detention center Monday, has drawn criticism from military family advocates who called the detention demoralizing in a time of war and warned that deporting spouses could undermine recruitment.