Deported: The Iraq War veterans denied the right to live in the US

Immigrant veterans who fought for the United States are still struggling to secure US citizenship 20 years since the war began

TIJUANA, Mexico - Jose Roberto Segovia Benitez knew at a young age he wanted to enlist in the United States Marine Corps and was told, like many foreign-born recruits, that his service would put him on a fast track to U.S. citizenship.

He served in Afghanistan, and then Iraq in 2003 following the U.S.-led invasion - suffering a traumatic brain injury from a blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) - and was honorably discharged in 2004.

But Segovia Benitez fell on hard times when he returned to the United States, struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction, eventually spending eight years behind bars for offenses including assault.

Still without citizenship, his criminal record led him to be deported in 2019 to El Salvador - essentially a foreign country to the 42-year-old, who had lived in the U.S. since he was a young child.

Currently back in the U.S. on a short-term humanitarian visa, he said he was terrified of being sent back to the Central American country - something he expects to happen in the coming months.

"I'd rather kill myself than go back to El Salvador," he said by phone from Long Beach, California, where he is undergoing treatment for addiction. "I'm scared to go back."

https://www.context.news/socioeconomic-inclusion/deported-the-iraq-war-veterans-denied-the-right-to-live-in-the-us