Non-Citizen Veterans Are Being Deported After Years of U.S. Military Service
Veterans who served in the U.S. military are facing deportation from Nevada, and the pace of enforcement has increased under the Trump administration. Cesar Lopez, 52, joined the U.S. Marines as a young man to honor the country that had taken in his family from Durango, Mexico. In 2013, nearly two decades after completing his service, he was deported after a customs check revealed an old marijuana conviction.
“The stakes are life or death.”
Deported veteran describing the consequences of removal, as reported by the Nevada Independent
Military service has long been advertised as a pathway to U.S. citizenship. Federal law allows non-citizen service members to apply for naturalization, but that process is not automatic. Veterans who were never naturalized, or who acquired convictions that triggered removal proceedings, remain vulnerable to deportation regardless of their service record.
Trump’s Enforcement Surge Is Reaching Veterans and Their Families
The Trump administration’s 2025-2026 immigration enforcement push has expanded ICE operations to populations that previously saw less scrutiny. Advocates working with veterans in Nevada report that fear of deportation has spread beyond the veterans themselves to their family members, many of whom have no military connection at all.
Lopez’s case illustrates how a single low-level conviction can follow a veteran across decades. He was deported after a marijuana offense discovered at a routine customs check, an offense that in many U.S. states today would not result in any criminal penalty. After deportation, he described training to hike back across a mountain on the Mexican border, determined to return to the country he had served.
The Department of Veterans Affairs does not require citizenship to receive some benefits, but deported veterans lose physical access to VA facilities and services the moment they are removed from the country. A 2019 Government Accountability Office report estimated that thousands of veterans have been deported since the 1990s, though no full federal count exists.
What You Can Do Now
-
Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor the Veteran Deportation Prevention and Reform Act, which would require immigration courts to consider military service before issuing removal orders. Tell the staff you are a constituent calling about deported veterans.
-
Contact Nevada Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen directly. Both serve veterans-heavy constituencies. Rosen sits on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Ask them to hold hearings on ICE enforcement against veterans. Cortez Masto: (702) 388-5020. Rosen: (702) 388-0205.
-
Connect deported veterans you know with Swords to Plowshares at (415) 252-4788 or swords-to-plowshares.org. The organization provides free legal services to veterans facing deportation and has handled hundreds of cases since the 1970s.
-
Submit a public comment to the Department of Homeland Security demanding a formal policy prohibiting deportation of honorably discharged veterans without a waiver process. DHS accepts comments at regulations.gov. Search “veterans immigration” for open dockets.
Sources
Nevada Independent: Fear of Deportation Looms for Some Veterans in Nevada U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Health Care Eligibility for Non-Citizen Veterans Government Accountability Office: Foreign-Born Veterans and Deportation Data Gaps Swords to Plowshares: Legal Services for Veterans Facing Immigration Consequences ACLU: Discharged Then Discarded, Deported Veterans Report