ICE Detains Marine Veteran's Wife During Routine Immigration Appointment

Detention of Paula Klua

• 🇺🇸 A Marine Corps veteran from Louisiana reports that his wife, Paula Klua, was detained by ICE agents during a routine immigration appointment.
• 👶 Paula Klua, originally from Mexico, was brought to the U.S. over a decade ago under asylum and was married to the veteran a year ago.
• 🍼 She is currently breastfeeding their 9-week-old infant daughter, who was only 9 weeks old at the time of detention.

Veteran's Experience and Challenges

• 💔 The veteran describes feeling betrayed by the U.S. government, stating agents knew he was a veteran and that his wife was breastfeeding their infant.
• 👨‍👧‍👦 He is now raising their two young children, both under two years old, and is making an 8-hour round trip twice a week to visit his wife in detention.
• 🗣️ He expressed his feelings of the situation being "almost inhumane" and cried after leaving the ICE office.

Disputed Deportation Order

• 📄 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services claims Paula Klua was issued a deportation order in 2018 which she ignored.
• 🤷‍♀️ Her husband states she had no knowledge of this order, believing it was against her mother, whom she was estranged from and who had abandoned her.
• 🏠 She was technically a homeless minor at the time and only learned of the deportation order a week before the ICE appointment.

Ongoing Efforts for Release

• ⚖️ The veteran is working with an attorney to secure his wife's release and bring her home.
• 📞 He has faced frustration trying to get information, with the customer service line for the New Orleans ICE field office reportedly not working.