Phoenix husband of fallen American soldier deported, allowed to return

PHOENIX — A Phoenix man married to an American soldier killed in combat was deported to Mexico last week, but he has been allowed to return to the United States, his attorney said.

“There was no reason that we can see that this individual should’ve been removed,” Ezequiel Hernandez, the Phoenix immigration attorney representing Jose Gonzalez Carranza, said Monday after his client was given permission to return.

Hernandez said Gonzalez was released from custody into Phoenix at around 7 p.m. Monday.

The attorney said Gonzalez, a Mexican national, was lawfully present in the U.S. through a process called “parole in place” due to his marriage to an Army soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.

His wife, Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, was killed at the age of 22.

“The authorities unlawfully or mistakenly removed him,” Hernandez said. “We want to make sure that if he’s following and being compliant with the law, then so does the institution.”

Hernandez said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents went to Gonzalez’s home in Phoenix on April 8 and detained him after he failed to attend an immigration court hearing.

The day Gonzalez was detained, Hernandez filed a motion to reopen the case, which should have prevented his client from being deported. He also filed evidence showing Gonzalez did not receive adequate notice to attend the hearing and that the notice was incorrectly addressed.

“On Wednesday, when we were calling to know the whereabouts of our client with ICE in Phoenix, our client called us from Mexico and told us he had been removed,” Hernandez said.

Gonzalez has been in the U.S. for more than a decade and has a 12-year-old daughter. Hernandez said he doesn’t have a criminal record.

On Tuesday, ICE issued a statement saying an immigration judge would determine if proceedings should be reopened and whether Gonzalez has legal basis to stay in the country.

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