Takeaways from AP’s review of military families detained under Trump’s immigration crackdown

An Associated Press investigation found that President Donald Trump’s administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. military service members as it rolls back immigration protections for their families to pursue its mass deportation agenda.

The immediate family members of U.S. troops have generally not been targets of immigration enforcement. But the AP found they’re now routinely being detained for months as they try to adjust their legal status through policies available to service members’ close relatives, even as the military recruits by advertising these benefits.

Experts warn that detaining troops’ family members undermines military preparedness even as the U.S. is at war in Iran. Military members whose spouses and parents have been placed in detention lose emotional support networks and caretakers for their children, delaying deployments and forcing some to take leave.

Here are the main takeaways from the AP’s reporting:

More than 50 parents and spouses of service members have been detained

The AP found that at least 51 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained by immigration officers since Trump took office for a second term, and at least six have been deported. At least eight immediate family members of U.S. service members remain in federal immigration custody.

The AP’s review is the first accounting of such detentions, and it’s likely an undercount. The government does not track such data.

The AP obtained information by analyzing thousands of federal court records compiled by Habeas Docket, a project run by the Immigration Justice Transparency Initiative; by reviewing existing media coverage; and by verifying information with family members and attorneys.

“DHS and ICE value the contributions of all those who have served in the U.S. military,” DHS said in a statement. “U.S. military service alone does not automatically grant lawful immigration status, or exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”

The Pentagon declined to comment.

Military service members lose their safety nets

Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo had to take administrative leave from his job training soldiers at Fort Polk, Louisiana, to care for his 5-year-old stepson, Noah, after his Brazilian wife, Maisa Lopes Eliaser, was detained in early July.

“It is really overwhelming because I need to take care of my kid by myself. No one is here to help me out,” Jaramillo said.

Other military service members who spoke with the AP echoed these sentiments. At least one soldier had to delay deployment to care for her 5-year-old son after her husband was detained by ICE, court records show.

Detention of military families is a reversal even from Trump’s first administration

A new policy, implemented in April 2025, states that “military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”

Dan Gividen, who served as ICE’s deputy chief counsel from 2016 to 2019 under Trump, represents a soldier’s father who has been in ICE custody for more than eight months. He said that during his time as an ICE prosecutor, immigration authorities rarely detained service members’ immediate family members unless they had committed violent crimes.

“We would not place them into removal proceedings, period. That’s insane,” Gividen said. “The fact that they’re doing it now is just outrageous.”

Military families are being detained despite eligibility for immigration benefits

One of the military’s most highly advertised immigration benefits is “military parole-in-place,” which allows the spouses, children and parents of active-duty service members and veterans to obtain legal immigration status from within the U.S.

The policy was implemented under Republican President George W. Bush during the U.S. war with Iraq in 2007 and codified under Democratic President Barack Obama. But DHS agencies have discretion over whether to grant it on a case-by-case basis.

The AP found that family members of troops are being held in detention despite having pending military parole-in-place applications and some were detained while appearing at appointments to adjust their legal status.

The military still uses immigration benefits as a recruitment strategy

Recruiters for the Army and the National Guard still promote enlistment as a way to protect family members from immigration enforcement.

Recruiters are expected to highlight the benefits of service to attract applicants, Army spokesperson Christopher Surridge said.

The National Guard said it does not track detentions of its troops’ relatives or which recruiters advertise immigration benefits and referred additional comment to DHS.

Cpl. Jose Manuel Vilchis-Valle said recruiters used these benefits to help convince him to enlist. But his mother was detained at an appointment in August 2025 and deported to Mexico within a week even as she was trying to adjust her legal status.

“They basically told me that if you serve, and if you served honorably, you can help your parents,” said Vilchis-Valle, 23, who was honorably discharged shortly after his mother was deported. “In a perfect world, I wished, because of my service, they could have pardoned her.”

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.