US Army veteran with PTSD deported over drug conviction

Miguel Perez

A man immigrates to the US as a child, founds a family, and later enlists in the Army and serves two tours in Afghanistan. His experiences there land him with PTSD, which he copes with through alcohol and drugs. The latter nets him a criminal conviction, and now he’s been kicked out of the country.

The deportation follows an earlier decision by US authorities to deny Miguel Perez's citizenship application because of a felony drug conviction, despite his service and the PTSD he says it caused.

Perez, 39, was escorted across the US-Mexico border from Texas and handed over to Mexican authorities Friday, ICE said in a statement.

Perez, his family and supporters, who include Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, had argued that his wartime service to the country had earned him the right to stay in the US and to receive mental health treatment for the PTSD and substance abuse.

He chose to fight for a country he wasn’t even a citizen of and came out of it traumatized enough he turned to drugs to cope with it. What he needs and deserves is medical care. What he’s getting is thrown out the door, into a country he hasn’t visited since childhood and where his life may be in danger.

America sure loves supporting its troops – so long as that doesn’t require anything more than waving flags and having grade-schoolers send letters.