Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported the husband of a U.S. soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. On Monday, after the case received substantial local media coverage, the man was returned to the U.S., according to the local AZ Central.
Jose Gonzalez Carranza was arrested on his way to work last week and was deported to Nogales, Sonora on Thursday, his attorney told AZ Central. He was allowed to reenter the U.S. on Monday afternoon and ICE officials dropped him off in Phoenix, Arizona. The agency did not give an explanation for why he was allowed to reenter, but Gonzalez Carranza told the local newspaper he believes it was because of media coverage.
His late wife, Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, was killed at the age of 22 in Afghanistan. The couple had a daughter together, who is now 12-years-old. While Gonzalez Carranza was deported, she stayed with her grandparents and was not told about what happened to her father.
While Gonzalez Carranza is an undocumented immigrant — he came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2004 as a teenager — he was granted a parole in place leniency after his wife was killed which was suppose to allow him to stay in the U.S. undocumented.
“There are plenty of people you can go after but not a guy whose wife died in Afghanistan,” he said.
Read the full AZ Central report here.
