US army veteran who received Purple Heart deported by ICE to Mexico
US army veteran who received Purple Heart deported by ICE to Mexico
US army veteran who received Purple Heart deported by ICE to Mexico

US army veteran who received Purple Heart deported by ICE to Mexico
US army veteran who received Purple Heart deported by ICE to Mexico

God, this story's a tragedy:
Barco came to the US with his family at 4 years old.
He joined the Army young, possibly as a path to citizenship (very common, and it's basically supposed to be automatic if you complete a 4-year enlistment), ended up in combat in Iraq and got caught in an IED.
Something went wrong with his citizenship paperwork, maybe it just sat on a desk forever waiting for some officer to sign it.
Barco is 39, he was born in 1986, therefore he enlisted 2003-04 at the age of 17. If he did a standard enlistment tour (4 years active duty, 4 years reserve) he would have still been in his reserve duty time in 2009 and should have access to military medical services, but... it can be hard to get real care for PTSD while you're still in. Either his command wasn't taking care of him or he wasn't taking care of himself or both. When the shooting incident happened the Army just washed its hands of him, having failed to give him the citizenship he earned or provide adequate care.
Maybe Barco had access to counseling in prison, maybe he just had time to think.
Barco joined the military two years after September 11. He got out of prison into a very different country, one that doesn't care about his service. He's just another number for ICE's quota, an easy one because he's already in custody.
Finally, after using him up and abusing him, the state throws him away carelessly.
What a disgusting abdication of state responsibility.
52 fucking years??? That judge should be publicly castrated.
Standard procedure for the military, unfortunately.
Yah I don't know why anyone would ever join the us military they fuck over all of their veterans time and time again.
One of the tragedies here is that he participated in imperialistic aggression against Iraq.