In 2006, Sgt. 1st Class Bob Crawford was honorably discharged after serving his country for two decades, “including in the 75th Ranger Regiment, a deployment during the Gulf War, and then serving in Latin America with 7th Group,” according to the Military Times. His country is now thanking him by putting his wife at risk of deportation to one of the most dangerous nations in the world:
Crawford, 52, and Elia, 44, married in 2001 when he was still on active duty and deploying regularly with 7th Group to conduct counter-narcotics operations and training missions in Latin America.
Elia illegally crossed into the U.S. in 1999, after she fled the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, which killed 7,000 people in her native Honduras.
After they married, the Crawfords filled out paperwork to seek legal residency for Elia and learned she was under deportation orders.
“We’ve been fighting this for years,” Bob Crawford said, listing the filings and attorneys the family has pursued to get Elia legal status.
The mother of two U.S. citizens now has a court date next week that could determine her future here. “Parole in Place” is supposed to protect immigrant spouses of active-duty service members and veterans like her from being torn from their families, but she’s barred from applying due to the existing deportation order. And the Trump administration has so far refused to remove it:
In recent hearings, the Crawfords have requested the deportation order be removed so they could proceed with the paperwork to be granted PIP. Getting the orders cleared in earlier cases had been fairly procedural, Corona said. That’s changed under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has taken a harder line on immigration and deportation issues.
In late December, DHS declined the Crawfords’ request.
“They provided no reason as to why they came to that decision,” [attorney Leticia] Corona said.
“The government won’t terminate that removal so she can get the PIP,” her husband told the Military Times, saying he’s finally speaking out publicly due to how close he and his two children could be to losing her. “So she’s caught between ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and DHS.” Remember, when Donald Trump and members of his administration say they’re targeting so-called “bad hombres” for deportation, they’re lying to you.
Just yesterday, Trump tweeted that “MS-13 thugs” were “being hit hard” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, when in fact it’s people who don’t pose a threat to public safety who have been the largest surge of those getting arrested. And now the wife of a man who put his life on the line for this country could be among them:
“I know the military takes care of families — because I lived it for 20 years,” Crawford said. “I just feel, right now, we’re caught in this limbo.”
Crawford continues to deploy in his contractor role to support the military. He is worried about Elia’s safety if the government decides she must return to Honduras.
“Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, especially for a female if they know she’s a military dependent,” he said.
The Crawfords return to an immigration court in Arlington, Virginia, Monday to see if there are other options available to them to get the deportation orders cleared. The family is fearful.
“This is kind of my last hope,” Bob Crawford said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Despite her undocumented status, Elia’s role has been no different than that of any other military spouse, which includes being “the foundation that has allowed Bob to keep deploying—as many as two or three times a year—first as an active duty soldier and now as a Defense Department contractor.” But not even she’s safe from the clutches of Trump’s mass deportation force. “My wife supported me the whole time I was gone—she ran the house,” he said. “Behind every good soldier is a good woman.”
And behind our country are Americans like Elia and Bob. Trump could very well take steps right now to direct his Homeland Security to protect her—he has zero qualms about publicly humiliating his attorney general—but instead he wants to put on public spectacles like a military parade to try and prove his so-called love for the military while doing absolutely nothing to protect military families like the Crawfords. How is this making America safer or greater again? What a disgrace.