I am a proud veteran of the Army and the Army Reserve, retiring as a major in the Medical Service Corps in 1994. During my time in the military, I worked with many amazing service persons who chose to bring a spouse from another country to share their life. These non-citizen spouses and Americans by choice brought tremendous talent to the American military.
Yet current U.S. Government policy under Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and Christy Noem is arresting and deporting non-American spouses of active duty military and veterans. None of these people ever wore the uniform but experienced the changes that military service brings to the service persons or veterans.
Traditionally one of the rewards of serving your country under arms has been expedited Green Cards and then citizenship for the service person, their spouse and their children This is no longer the case. In his first term, Trump deported non-citizen combat veterans and now he has taken to deporting the spouses of U.S. citizen combat vets and service people.
The same day my monthly American Legion member magazine arrived with a story of the arrest and planned deportation of a veteran’s spouse who only days before had given birth and was breastfeeding her new baby — stopped only through Republican Senator Kennedy’s intervention on MSNBC and the sad suicide death of a U.S. citizen, Marine ,and National Guard vet after his 17-year unsuccessful journey to bring his wife back to the U.S. from Kenya after she was deported while he was on active duty in the War Against Terrorism.
I am saddened and embarrassed by yet another broken promise to these two veterans who volunteered for the military, put on the uniform and put themselves in harm’s way to protect our right to freedom. I then began to think of the all the American citizens who married non-American spouses that I served with and say, “But for the grace of God,” my Army buddies could have suffered the same fate.
There is so much wrong with this massive deportation process. I will leave for others to talk about the businesses that are failing after most of their employees have been arrested, the patients left untreated or cut off from medical treatment after their doctors and nurses are arrested, and the crops left to rot in the fields and the cows left un-milked and sick from this, the old and disabled persons left without home care when their skilled caregiver has been arrested and deported.
I raise my voice for my brothers and sisters under arms who have had their spouses taken away despite their service and sacrifice. How can a country turn its back on them?
Frank Vozak
Oak Park