Overview
- Deisy Rivera Ortega was taken into custody on April 14 during a Parole in Place interview at an El Paso immigration office and remains held at ICE’s El Paso Service Processing Center.
- DHS says she entered the U.S. illegally, was convicted of illegal entry, and received a final removal order on Dec. 12, 2019, despite holding a valid work permit.
- An immigration judge in 2019 granted her withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture, which blocks deportation to El Salvador but allows transfer to a third country, and officials have discussed Mexico.
- Her attorney has filed a habeas petition in federal court challenging the detention and seeking to halt any removal while her Parole in Place application remains pending.
- The detention follows a DHS rollback that stopped treating military family ties as a key mitigating factor, and advocates warn of rising arrests, forced separations given troops’ restricted travel to Mexico, and strain on readiness.