What a wonderful way to that a veteran for his service to our country! Not!
A man who served in the U.S. military and survived two combat deployments to Iraq is now at risk of being deported to a country that is refusing to accept him.
Rolling Stone columnist Michael Embrich wrote Wednesday about the case of Army veteran Jose Barco, who is now in deportation proceedings even though he’s an honorably discharged Purple Heart recipient diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Embrich, Barco is “caught in limbo” as he faces deportation to Venezuela, despite not having visited the country since he was a toddler.
Barco — whose father fled Cuba for Venezuela before bringing him to the U.S. at age four — received his Purple Heart medal after an explosion launched him into a wall, resulting in severe burns and a traumatic brain injury. In 2004, he served in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, and saw frequent combat as his deployment was during the height of the Iraqi insurgency.
Embrich went on to write about how Barco was nearly naturalized, as he got help with his U.S. citizenship application from his commanding officer. However, Barco’s file got lost in the application process, and he had no way to track it in the system. As Embrich explained, Barco had a “straightforward path to naturalization” that ended up becoming “an invisible trap door leading to exile.”
