Miguel Perez Jr., an Army veteran deported after conviction of a drug trafficking charge, has won U.S. citizenship, his backers announced Friday, declaring victory after a years-long battle to get his deportation reversed.
He was sworn in as a citizen in Chicago.
Mr. Perez’s case had become a cause for immigrant-rights activists who said he was one of a number of migrants who’d served in the U.S. military then run afoul of the law and been ousted — unfairly, the activists argued — because they’d never bothered to apply for citizenship.
They said the post-traumatic stress disorder he had from tours of duty in Afghanistan contributed to his criminal behavior, and said the government should have been more lenient.
The key moment in Mr. Perez’s case came earlier this year when the Illinois governor issued a pardon for his drug conviction, wiping it from his record — and with it, the key block on his quest to be readmitted to the U.S.
He was paroled back into the U.S. last week from Mexico, his birth country, where he’d been living since his 2018 deportation. The parole was to give him a chance to appear for a citizenship interview.
Analysts had been curious to see how the Trump administration would handle the case.
Would-be citizens must prove they are of good moral character. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is usually very relaxed about these cases, but it was an open question whether the Trump administration would apply a stricter reading of the law.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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