ICE releases wife of U.S. Army soldier after month-long detention
ICE has released the wife of an active-duty U.S. soldier after a month in detention, her husband told CBS News.
Updated on: May 15, 2026 / 12:37 AM EDT / CBS News
Serrano's wife, El Salvador native Deisy Rivera Ortega, was detained by ICE on April 14 during an immigration appointment in El Paso, Texas. Serrano, who has served in the Army for 27 years, including three deployments to Afghanistan, first revealed to CBS News last month that his wife had been arrested by ICE after living in the U.S. for roughly a decade.
She attended that appointment as part of an application for a special immigration program known as Parole in Place, designed to protect military spouses and parents who are in the U.S. illegally or without permanent legal status from deportation.
In an interview Thursday, Serrano said he was elated when he received the news of his wife's release, saying he had come close to giving up. He said they gave each other a "big hug."
"I don't have words to describe how happy I feel," Serrano told CBS News soon after he picked up his wife from an ICE detention center in El Paso. "When they called me that my wife would be released today, I started shaking, tears on my eyes and heart pounding super fast."