Daniel Torres Expected To Become First Deported Veteran To Gain U.S. Citizenship While Abroad

Torres applied for a U.S. Visa to return to the country for an appointment with the USCIS after being deported to Mexico.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 26, 2016

Tijuana, Baja California, México - On Saturday, Hector Barajas, the Director/Founder of the Deported Veterans Support House (DVSH) in Tijuana announced that former Marine Veteran Daniel Torres who was deported to Mexico has applied for a temporary U.S. Visa to allowed him to attend an appointment with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in San Diego, California on April 21 for an interview about his filed application to become a U.S. Citizen. Torres who served in the Iraq War hopes to become the first deported Veteran to be granted U.S. Citizenship while abroad.

Barajas, a former Army Veteran also hopes to become one of the first deported Veterans to gain U.S. Naturalization while having a life time deportation.

Legal attorneys with American Civil Liberties Union in California (ACLU-CA) and the lawfirm of Latham & Watkins are working with the DVSH and undocumented Veterans with the filing for U.S. Citizenship while in Mexico and to help change government policy dealing with U.S. Veterans being deported for misdemeanor and minor felony violations of state laws.

In December the ACLU-CA assigned a group of six attorneys to access and help file for pardons, post conviction relief, U Visas and U.S. Citizenship for qualified deported Veterans. 

Today, deported Veterans can only be allowed to return to the U.S. upon their death abroad. The U.S. government provides the deceased deported Veterans with military burial honors, a marker and a burial plot for their military service.