Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, wife of active-duty US Army Sgt Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, was deported on Monday, August 25, 2026, to her native Honduras, according to her family and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Villafranca-Trejo is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty US soldier to be deported under the immigration crackdown during Donald Trump’s second presidency.

The Associated Press has identified over 50 cases where immediate family members of US troops were placed in federal immigration detention following the rollback of protections for military families by the Trump administration. While DHS has occasionally released military spouses after media scrutiny and congressional advocacy, Villafranca-Trejo’s detention has had significant impacts on her family.

Her husband, Sgt Turcios Juarez, who became a US citizen in 2024 after enlisting two years prior, has struggled to balance his military duties with family responsibilities since Villafranca-Trejo was detained on July 11, 2026, outside a Walmart near Fort Bliss, Texas, where he is stationed. He has had to postpone a planned assignment and now takes their daughter to first grade instead of attending morning training sessions. “I don’t know if I will be able to continue with this,” Turcios Juarez said. “I have to make a plan to make sure I can still fulfill my military responsibilities – but also take care of my family.”

Before Trump’s second administration, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) typically allowed immediate family members of US troops to adjust their legal status even if they had final removal orders, according to Dan Gividen, former ICE deputy chief counsel.

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, a Democrat representing El Paso, has opened a congressional inquiry into Villafranca-Trejo’s case and visited her at the Camp East Montana detention facility in Texas earlier this month, as stated by her spokesperson JP Caballero.

Sources