Army sergeant says wife detained by ICE will be released in El Paso

An Army sergeant whose wife was swept into immigration custody during a routine appointment says he has been told she will be released in El Paso, a brief reprieve that does not settle whether the government will still try to remove her from the city, or from the country.

Sgt. First Class Jose Serrano said Deisy Rivera Ortega was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on April 14 while he was with her at an immigration appointment in El Paso, Texas. Serrano, 51, has served in the U.S. Army for 27 years and deployed to Afghanistan. Rivera Ortega married him in 2022 and has lived in the United States since 2016.

The case has sharpened a national debate over how much military service actually shields a family from immigration enforcement. Serrano’s account underscores the contradiction at the center of the dispute: a soldier with nearly three decades in uniform says his spouse was still detained under a system the administration says respects military families.

Rivera Ortega’s legal status is contested. Court documents reported by CBS News said she was granted legal protection in 2019 that bars deportation to El Salvador. The Department of Homeland Security has said she entered the United States illegally and that an immigration judge issued a final removal order on December 12, 2019. CBS also reported that Rivera Ortega had an active work permit when she was arrested. Local reporting said she had held work authorization since 2017 and received a five-year permit in 2024.

The couple live in the Fort Bliss area, and Rivera Ortega works on Fort Bliss, according to a local report. Serrano has said immigration officials have discussed deporting her to Mexico, a country where he says she has no family or ties. He said Army travel rules would likely keep him from visiting her there.

Rivera Ortega’s attorney, Matthew Kozik, has filed legal action seeking her release and trying to stop her removal from El Paso. The immediate question now is whether release from custody will mean a return to the Fort Bliss community or only a pause before ICE pursues another transfer.

The family’s ordeal has also become a health story. Serrano said the detention has worsened his PTSD, depression and sleep problems, adding another layer of strain to a case that has already exposed how fragile military-family protections can be when immigration enforcement takes a hard turn.