Friday at 6:15 a.m. @ICEgov will begin the deportation of military wife Alejandra Juarez. She contacted me out of the blue months ago, after we wrote about the wife of a 7th Soecial Forces vet who got a last minute reprieve. It was her last hope. Other media followed (more)
I live in DC, where we stand for veterans & military families in the 3rd inning at every #Nationals home game. It’s a stark contradiction to the vitriol I heard about Alejandra. It didn’t matter that her husband was an honorably serving Marine, or that he later deployed to #Iraq
... as a member of Florida’s National Guard. With each story, I got to know Alejandra better. With each story, @ICEgov thought the emphasis on her husband’s military service - instead of her illegal entry was unfair. Each piece became a re-trial. (More)
What I will say now, is tonight, her last night in the United States, she is sad. And scared. She was the one at home with an infant when Temo came home from Iraq. To me at least, it’s been a very telling experience to see how military sacrifice only counts for some, not others.
Finally, in what I suspect will be a last correspondence with her for awhile, as she finds a new life in #Mexico w/ their 8-year-old daughter while Temo stays in Florida w/ their 16-year-old daughter, both US born, I said this: I do not think this is the end of her story.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I've just been informed by the great .@LeoShane that I did, in fact, screw up Tweet-threading again. My apologies ... so here's everything from #SecDef in one thread:
1: #SecDef spent almost an hour w/ the Pentagon Press before new year. Stories TK, but some takeaways: 1.) Look for more general purpose forces to be trained/used for roles that have drained SF 2.) W/ transgender, he would not single out or issue specific welcome (more) 1/of many
2/many: 3.) #Syria - US role will evolve, more diplomats 4.) CIVCAS: #SecDef took issue w/ Q's on #Yemen CIVCAS #s, cited high degree US precision, added w/ sympathy "the cost of war throughout history is more heavily borne by civilians." Will work w/ Saudis on addtl training