Mama Will Be Back Soon: ICE Detains Marine Veteran’s Wife

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre begins and ends each day facing questions he can’t answer. When his two-year-old son Noah asks where his mother is, Adrian simply says, “Mama will be back soon.” His three-month-old daughter Lyn, who had been breastfeeding, now has to settle for formula from a

bottle. That’s because their mother, Paola Clouatre, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month during what the couple believed was a routine immigration appointment for Paola’s green card.

Now, the Clouatre family is separated, and Paola sits in an ICE detention center eight hours away, waiting to learn if she will be deported to Mexico.

A Marine’s Family Torn Apart

Adrian Clouatre, 26, served five years in the Marine Corps, and now qualifies as a service-disabled veteran. He never imagined his wife would be taken by immigration officials while trying to follow the legal process to gain permanent residency.

Paola, 25, was brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a child when her mother sought asylum. But in 2018, an immigration judge issued a deportation order after her mother failed to appear for a court hearing, which Paola says she knew nothing about. Estranged from her mother for years and having grown up in shelters, Paola believed she had a clean path to legal status through marriage to a U.S. citizen.

Instead, at her green card appointment on May 27, she was handcuffed and taken away by ICE. 

A Shift in Policy, A Loss of Compassion

Under previous administrations, military families often received deference in immigration cases. But that’s changed under the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement push, which now seeks 3,000 arrests per day.

According to a February memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency “will no longer exempt” certain groups from deportation, including family members of active-duty military or veterans. As of June 12, USCIS had referred more than 26,000 cases to ICE.

“It's just a hell of a way to treat a veteran," said Carey Holliday, a former immigration judge who is now representing the couple. "You take their wives and send them back to Mexico?"

Misleading Promises

Adding to the confusion and frustration, military recruiters have continued to suggest that enlistment provides protections for undocumented family members. Advertisements targeting Latino communities have promoted military service as a path to immigration relief.

But that message is now being walked back. Marine Corps spokesperson Master Sgt. Tyler Hlavac confirmed that recruiters have been instructed not to promise immigration benefits, saying they are “not the proper authority” on such matters.

Waiting for a Second Chance

The Clouatres are now waiting on a motion to reopen Paola’s immigration case in a California court. In the meantime, Adrian is doing his best to care for his children and visit his wife in the remote detention center whenever he can.

As he rocks his baby daughter to sleep, bottle in hand, he offers the same words of comfort each night: “Mama will be back soon.”