Louisiana Marine veteran speaks out after wife detained by ICE during Green Card interview
Adrian Clouatre has spoken up about the need for exceptions in the system.
Mass deportations struck a Louisiana Marine veteran’s home when his wife Paola, originally from Mexico, was arrested by the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Adrian Clouatre has spoken up about the need for exceptions in the system, talking about how he “gave up the five best years of his life” in the military.
Clouatre first met Paola in 2022 in Palm Springs, eight years after she had immigrated to the US from Mexico with her mother. Since then, the couple have built a life together in Prairieville and are now parents to a 1-year-old boy and a 9-week-old daughter. Despite having no past criminal record, she received a final removal order in 2018 from a US court when her mother missed an asylum hearing while Paola was still a minor.
Paola had recently applied for a green card and was working with her lawyer to get the removal order lifted. During her interview for the same, she chose to come clean about her impending removal order and was soon arrested by ICE. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that she is being detained at Richwood Correctional Facility in Monroe.
‘The sudden separation has been overwhelming’
Clouatre has publically sought help in bearing the financial costs of this strain by creating a GoFundMe page which reads, “Now, I am caring for our 19-month-old son and 9-week-old daughter on my own, with support from my parents. The sudden separation has been overwhelming for all of us, especially for our children who miss their mother deeply. We are doing everything we can to bring Paola home, but the costs are more than we can manage alone. We urgently need help to cover Paola’s bond (most likely between $10-15,000) and legal fees, gas, as well as basic needs like baby formula for our children.”
“They pass the interview with flying colors but told the examiner that she had a final order of removal. Someone, probably the examiner, called ICE and she was arrested,” said the couple’s lawyer and former immigration judge Carey Holliday to HuffPost. “This is no way to treat a veteran and his small children.” Additionally, he has blamed the couple’s situation on “bad legal advice” and is currently waiting on a pending motion for an emergency stay of removal and to prevent her from being deported.
Clouatre has raised a voice against the immediacy in Trump’s immigration policy and claims that it hinders the process of people trying to stay legally.
– By Stuti Gupta
