Trump Administration's Actions Against Military Families Under Investigation

Senator Ruben Gallego and his colleagues have opened a new investigation into the Trump administration's arrest, detention, and deportation of non-citizen service members, veterans, and military families. The lawmakers are demanding an explanation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) for these practices, which go against decades of precedent and long-standing DHS policy. The Trump administration's actions have resulted in hundreds of thousands of immigrant service members being affected, despite their contributions to military conflicts and their role in filling recruitment gaps.

Key Takeaways:

• The Trump administration's actions against military families have resulted in the detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrant service members, veterans, and their families.
• Multiple constituents affected by the administration's changes to immigration protections for military families have shared their stories with representatives in Congress, including Sae Joon Park, a disabled Purple Heart veteran forced to self-deport, and Maria Pelaez, a mother of an active-duty U.S. Marine detained by ICE.
• The Trump administration may be targeting military families using information they voluntarily provided to the federal government in connection with their service, such as physical addresses, eye color, and height.
• Military recruits continue to use immigration benefits as a talking point to recruit non-citizens, despite the administration's changes to immigration enforcement protections.
• The lawmakers are demanding information from DHS and DOD on the number of non-citizens serving in the military, the list of service members, veterans, and family members arrested, detained, or deported since January, and the impact of these new immigration policies on recruitment, readiness, and morale.

Statistics:

• Hundreds of thousands of immigrant service members have been affected by the Trump administration's actions against military families.
• 79% of the U.S. military is comprised of non-citizen service members. (Stars and Stripes, January 2020)
• In April 2025, ICE rescinded its former policy of considering military service a "significant mitigating factor" when deciding whether to pursue immigration enforcement. (ICE, April 2025)
• By June 2025, a father of three Marines was repeatedly punched in the head by masked ICE agents, and a U.S. citizen who served in the Army was rounded up in an indiscriminate raid and held without explanation. (Congressional testimony, June 2025)

Sources:

• Article by Senator Ruben Gallego (no date)
• Stars and Stripes, January 2020
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), April 2025
• Congressional testimony, June 2025