A woman is lured to a public building. As she waits with her military veteran husband for some politburo-like agent to give her a time to come back to get her papers in order, she decides to breastfeed their infant child. Just then, armed agents storm the couple, tear the baby from the mother, and place her under arrest. She is then put in a queue for deportation, exactly what the couple was trying to avoid when they voluntarily showed up at their local government office.
This is not some dystopian novel or narrative about times in the Soviet Republic or Nazi Germany? Nope — this was in Louisiana a few weeks back. This is Donald Trump’s America.
President Trump and his administration are carrying out the cruelest and most sweeping mass deportation program in modern U.S. history. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, acting at Trump’s direction, have detained and deported veterans, their children, their spouses — even those who served alongside us on the battlefield. This is being done under the guise of “making America safe again,” when statistically America has never been safer. In fact, the administration is destroying the families who actually do keep us safe.
Trump’s efforts to deport veterans and their families are not simply part of his broader immigration crackdown — they are a deliberate attack on service members and our veterans. In a February 2025 memo, the administration announced it will “no longer exempt” active duty military personnel, veterans, and their families from deportation while they pursue legal status — a complete reversal of prior U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy.
For active-duty families, this is especially devastating. Many service members meet their spouses overseas and are frequently relocated, making it extremely difficult to access a local USCIS office and begin the immigration process.
Take Sae Joon Park, a Purple Heart recipient and Army combat veteran who came to the U.S. as a child. He served honorably in Operation Just Cause and was wounded twice; one was a gunshot wound to his back, temporarily paralyzing him. Like too many veterans, Park returned home with PTSD. Struggling with addiction, he was convicted of a drug offense over 15 years ago. Park served his time. He stayed in compliance with immigration authorities. He built a life, raised a son, and tried to move forward. But, just days before Independence Day, Trump’s ICE told him to leave or be jailed. He self-deported to South Korea — exiled from the nation he bled and nearly died for.
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Park is at least the second Purple Heart recipient whom Trump has attempted to remove from this country in his second term.
Veterans across the country are watching as their parents, spouses, and children are swept up in raids. A father of three U.S. Marines was tackled at a landscaping job and arrested. And Jermaine Thomas — a man born on a U.S. Army base in Germany to a citizen father who died — was deported to Jamaica, a country he had never set foot in. Had Sen. John McCain or Bruce Willis been held to the same standard, we wouldn’t even know who they are.
It’s not only veterans and their families getting the shaft for Independence Day. There’s Sayed Naser Noori, an Afghan interpreter who spent a decade supporting U.S. troops. His brother was murdered by the Taliban because of that loyalty. He fled to the U.S. legally, through a port of entry, under humanitarian parole. But this month, at a routine court appearance, ICE agents arrested him. Now, Trump’s administration is fast-tracking his deportation — even as his asylum case remains unresolved. A fine reward for someone who lost his own brother to protect our brothers and sisters in arms.
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What do these stories say about America as we prepare to honor those English citizens who betrayed their nation to become men, women, and children with no nation — just an idea about a better one. An idea about a place where any person, from any nation, could come to and make their home, make it better, make it stronger.
Our diversity is what makes us strong. But Trump knows that he is a master at a divide-and-conquer method of governing — so much so that he has much of the nation cheering the sick and reprehensible things he is doing to our veterans, allies, and their families this Fourth of July.
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John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
The silence of so many, in both words and actions, while our veterans and their families are being deported, is deafening.