Has ice deported soldiers

1. The hard numbers and what the inspectors found

A Government Accountability Office review found that at least 250 non‑citizen veterans entered removal proceedings and 92 were deported in the 2013–2018 period, and the GAO warned ICE lacks reliable systems to identify and track veteran cases—an important caveat for interpreting trends and totals ^[1]; subsequent reporting and congressional queries in 2025 show persistent uncertainty about exact counts and even activist estimates that are much higher, with some advocates citing figures up to thousands but no comprehensive public tally provided by DHS or ICE ^[3].

2. Recent, documented deportations and individual stories

Multiple recent cases have been documented in national outlets: an Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, José Barco, was reported deported from Arizona to Mexico after months in detention ^[2], other veterans such as Marlon Parris and Jermaine Thomas have been reported detained or deported amid expanded enforcement ^{[4] [5]}, and local investigations spotlight veterans like Godfrey Wade who were arrested on routine traffic or licensing issues and then transferred to ICE custody—a pattern covered by outlets including The Guardian and local stations ^{[6] [7]}.

3. Policy shifts, protections rolled back, and competing official claims

Protections existed: a 2022 Biden‑era directive instructed ICE to consider military service before pursuing removal for veterans without serious violent histories ^{[8] [7]}, but reporting indicates that those directives were rescinded or narrowed under later enforcement priorities, producing a surge in veteran detentions and deportations according to advocates and congressional letters ^{[6] [3]}. At the same time, political theater and official denials have complicated the record: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said DHS “hasn’t deported U.S. citizens or military veterans” during testimony, a claim immediately challenged by veterans and advocates who cited deported service members on the record ^[9].

4. Why these cases are happening: enforcement priorities, staffing and institutional gaps

Reporting points to a deliberate enforcement push to increase removals—including internal ICE recruitment strategies to hire thousands of deportation officers and an emphasis on expedited removals—and to changes in immigration court staffing and oversight that make removal outcomes more likely ^{[10] [11]}. At the same time, institutional weaknesses—ICE’s poor tracking of veteran status and DHS’s uneven reporting to Congress—mean the public lacks a clear, consistent picture of how many service members and veterans have been deported, detained, or placed in proceedings ^{[1] [3]}.

5. Citizens mistaken for non‑citizens and the broader legal mess

Separate but related problems complicate the narrative: there are documented cases of U.S. citizens and veterans wrongfully funneled into ICE custody—Jilmar Ramos‑Gomez and George Retes are cited examples of veterans or former service members who were detained by ICE despite U.S. citizenship claims—highlighting that enforcement errors, not only policy choices, have harmed people who served ^{[12] [13]}. Taken together, the sources show a two‑track reality: ICE has deported non‑citizen veterans and service members (with credible case reporting and GAO data), while gaps in data, shifting directives, and contested official statements leave unresolved questions about scale and accountability ^{[1] [2] [3]}.