Story thread · 3 reports / 3 sources

Wife of U.S. soldier removed from deportation flight, released from immigration custody

nbcdfw.com · 5h · first reportShare

A U.S. soldier’s wife who spent more than a month in federal immigration detention said she is back home after officers removed her from a deportation flight to Brazil. Earlier this month, The Associated Press highlighted Maisa Lopes Eliaser as one of dozens of spouses or parents of U.S. troops who had been detained after President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back protections for military families amid its push for mass deportations. Following the AP’s reporting, a group of Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into deportations of military service members and their families. Eliaser was placed on a deportation flight Wednesday to her native Brazil when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the plane received a phone call about her midflight, she told the AP. She said she was then asked by an ICE officer whether she wanted to continue on to Brazil or go back to the U.S. “Who made the call? We don’t know,” said Eliaser’s husband, Army Staff Sgt. Alexi