A U.S. Army staff sergeant is attempting to halt the deportation of his wife, who was detained inside a Louisiana military base just days after their wedding. Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank brought his wife, Annie Ramos, 22, to Fort Polk, Louisiana, last Thursday with the intention of beginning the process for military benefits and a green card. The couple married in March of the same year.
Ramos, who was born in Honduras, remained in a federal immigration detention center on Monday. Her detention is part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, which legal experts state has ended the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) previous practice of leniency toward families of military members.
Staff Sgt. Blank, 23, stated to The Associated Press, “I never imagined that trying to do the right thing would lead to her being taken away from me. What was supposed to be the happiest week of our lives has turned into one of the hardest.”
Ramos entered the U.S. 21 years ago, in 2005, when she was younger than 2 years old. That same year, her family failed to appear for an immigration hearing, resulting in a judge issuing a final order of removal, according to DHS. DHS stated in an emailed statement that Ramos “has no legal status to be in this country,” adding, “This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”
In 2020, Ramos applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), but her husband reports her application has remained “in limbo” amidst ongoing legal challenges to terminate the Obama-era program.
Erosion of National Protections
One year ago, in April 2025, DHS eliminated a 2022 policy that had considered military service of an immediate family member to be a “significant mitigating factor” in decisions regarding immigration enforcement. The administration’s current policy now explicitly states that “military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”
Prior to the Trump administration’s mass deportation push, DHS generally allowed the spouses of active-duty military members to gain legal status through policies such as parole in place and deferred action. These policies were promoted by military recruiters, according to Margaret Stock, a military immigration law expert.
Stock indicated that Ramos’ case would have been “easy to resolve in the past.” Instead, Stock stated, DHS now appears to be focusing on detaining members of military families whenever an opportunity arises, including when they are attempting to apply for legal status. Stock criticized this approach, saying, “It doesn’t make any sense — they’re going to get arrested for following the law? That’s stupid. It’s bad for morale, it disrupts the soldiers’ readiness.”
The Cost to Service Members
Seven months ago, in September 2025, more than 60 members of Congress wrote to DHS and the U.S. Department of Defense. Their letter warned that arrests of military personnel and veteran’s family members were “betraying its promises to service members who play a key role in protecting U.S. national security.” The Pentagon declined to comment on the matter.
Lydiah Owiti-Otienoh, who leads the advocacy group Foreign-Born Military Spouse Network, reported an anecdotal increase in cases where military families’ lives have been disrupted by tightening immigration restrictions. Owiti-Otienoh stated, “It just sends a really bad message — we don’t care about you, about your spouses, anything you are doing. If military families are not stable, national security is not stable.”
Staff Sgt. Blank’s mother, Jen Rickling, told the AP that her daughter-in-law, a Sunday school teacher and biochemistry major, was everything she had hoped for, describing her as someone who “loves my son with her whole heart.” Rickling added, “We absolutely adore her. I believe in this country. And I believe we can do better than this — for Annie, for other military families, and for the values we hold dear.”
Blank stated his eagerness to begin building a life with Ramos on the base while he served his country. He concluded, “I want my wife home. And I will not stop fighting until she is back where she belongs, by my side.”