Donald Trump’s War on Immigrants Has Now Reached Military Families

The family residential section of U.S. Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, is usually a very pleasant place, with military families from the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps enjoying the sunny respite of a golden duty station like Key West. 

At least it was until the Department of Homeland Security and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, under the direction of Donald Trump’s lackeys, abandoned their vital mission of keeping military families safe and instead became a Gestapo-like force imprisoning them. 

Just when you thought the Trump administration couldn’t sink any lower, it just moved to deport the wife of an active-duty Coast Guardsmen. 

The military spouse’s crime? An expired work visa. It is unclear if any children had to witness this act of terror in the very place they should be safest, a military family community.

DHS oversees both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Coast Guard. Using their knowledge and inside information, DHS officials have turned their power against one of their own, arresting an active duty Coast Guard wife who was attempting to find on-base housing at Naval Air Station Key West.

There has been debate on whether the arrested military spouse was home alone, with her husband being deployed or on temporary duty somewhere, as the Associated Press reported that the Coast Guardsman’s ship, the USCGC Mohawk (WMEC-913), has been in port at Key West since mid-March. 

Either way, what a dastardly move by the Trump Administration to attack someone and their family who has done more for this country than Trump ever could. After returning from a long deployment defending democracy, the Coast Guardsman’s reward will be having his wife deported. 

As tales spread of judges being detained and arrested for “interfering” with immigration operations, federal and local law enforcement personnel flinch at the prospect of defying illegal orders from the Trump Administration, facing threats of arrest and career-ending repercussions.

At the same time, Jose Barco, a U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, sits in a Texas detention center awaiting deportation. Barco fought in Iraq, survived a traumatic brain injury and PTSD, and tried to become a citizen, only to have his application lost by the very system he fought for. After returning home broken and untreated, Barco spiraled and committed a tragic crime. After he served his time, he now faces exile to Venezuela, a country that refuses to accept him.

It is unclear whether the Coast Guardsman will face any disciplinary action, as the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) does not cover immigration law. But don’t count out the Trump administration and its extreme cruelty toward migrants. 

They have already shown a willingness to weaponize immigration law by digging up defunct statutes like the Alien Enemies Act, no matter how flimsy the rationale. 

Now, people across the military are taking notice. Word is spreading fast through the ranks that not even service members or their families are safe from Trump and Stephen Miller’s draconian assault on those they label “illegal.”

If a Purple Heart doesn’t protect you, nothing will. If active-duty military personnel and their families, with guns and guards, aren’t safe from Trump and his minions, how safe are you? Americans must take heed of this. 

Trump will go down in history as one of the cruelest presidents in American history — here’s looking at you, Andrew Jackson and all the slaveholding presidents — and possibly the worst. In the first 100 days, Trump has arguably done more damage to this nation than any other president. 

No one is coming to save our active duty military members, our veterans, our senior citizens, or our migrant neighbors. The only person who can save you is you. Organize, act, resist. Before it is too late.