WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: National Guard soldiers look on as Honduran immigrants Maribel Vasquez, 40, and Marvin Suazo,43, tour past the Washington Monument on May 20, 2026 in Washington, DC. Their family was visiting the National Mall along with their daughter Samantha Suazo, also from Honduras who was naturalized as an American citizen in 2025. She was the first member of her family to graduate from college, receiving a BA from Yale University on May 18, 2026. Suazo originally traveled from Honduras at age 11 with her parents seeking asylum, and the family settled in Big Sky, Montana. There her father established a construction company and her mother cleaned homes for local residents. Samantha and Maribel went through the formal U.S. asylum process, although her father was ineligible due to previous deportation and remained undocumented in the U.S. In early 2026, ICE agents deported six of his construction employees following a raid. Under immense stress the family made a difficult decision to sacrifice family cohesion: Marvin would self-deport to Honduras following Samantha's graduation from Yale. The family traveled one last time together, this time down the U.S. eastern coast, visiting Washington, DC, Orlando and Miami before separating, with her mother and U.S.-born sister Zhoe, 11, flying home to Montana. Samantha would accompany Marvin as he self-deported, back to the mountainous coffee country of central Honduras which they had left a dozen years before. She will return to New Haven, CT and work at an immigrant-advocacy non-profit before applying to law school for the 2027 academic year. (Credit: Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
The Trump administration's immigration crackdown has swept up thousands of people living in the United States illegally, but it has also affected U.S. citizens, permanent residents and refugees directly or indirectly speaking.
The hardline immigration policies have also separated mixed-status families. That was the case for retired Staff Sgt. Wilmer Trujillo, a U.S. Army veteran who served nearly 20 years in the Army and the Texas National Guard and whose wife is now facing deportation.
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