Federal immigration agents arrested Annie Ramos, the new wife of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank, shortly after the couple arrived at Fort Polk, Louisiana, for his duty assignment. The newlywed couple, along with Blank’s parents, had expected Ramos to receive a military ID and spousal benefits, not handcuffs.
Blank, 23, had driven from Houston, Texas, to Fort Polk with his 22-year-old wife and his parents for a 2:00 PM registration appointment on Thursday, April 2. Ramos, who is undocumented, was brought to the U.S. by her parents when she was a toddler. She had believed that marrying Blank would put her on a path to a green card and eventually citizenship within three years, which is standard under U.S. immigration law.
The group followed all instructions, signing in at the base’s visitors’ center and presenting Blank’s military ID, their marriage license, and Ramos’s Honduran passport. Instead of being directed to the benefits office, ICE agents appeared, took Ramos into custody, handcuffed her, and transported her to a detention center in Basile, Louisiana, reports The New York Times. Her family watched in tears.
Military spouses without legal status are increasingly being caught in immigration enforcement
Blank described what was supposed to happen that day: “Our plan was to drive over, bring her to the office to get her military ID and activate her military spouse benefits. She was going to move in after the Easter weekend. Instead, she got ripped away from me.” He added, “I knew she didn’t have status. We were doing everything the right way,” and noted they had hired an immigration lawyer to help with the process.
The Department of Homeland Security said Ramos “has no legal status to be in this country and was issued a final order of removal by a judge.” The order dates back to 2005, issued in absentia when Ramos was just 22 months old. The department stated, “This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”
ICE has been at the center of several high-profile arrests lately, including a case where the agency showed up at the door of Iran’s general’s niece living in Los Angeles. Ramos is a Sunday school teacher and was just months away from finishing a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry.
The couple met on a dating app last year, got engaged on New Year’s Day, and married in Houston with 60 guests. Speaking from the detention center, Ramos said, “I grew up here like any American. This is all I know. My husband and family are here.”
Blank, who has served deployments in both the Middle East and Europe, says he has the full support of his chain of command. “We are going to fight with everything I have. She is going to move in with me. We will start a family… I am going to be with her and serve my country.” The family has set up a GoFundMe campaign, which had raised over $8,000 toward a $12,000 goal at the time of reporting.
Margaret Stock, an immigration law expert who specializes in military cases, said situations like this are “very common.” She noted that “prior to the Trump administration creating a mass deportation policy, somebody like her would not have been detained,” and warned, “It’s fundamentally harmful to national security to be doing this to members of the military, particularly while there is a war going on. This is a major crisis for this soldier. His mind can’t be on the job.”
Blank and Ramos are not alone. Marine Veteran Samuel Shasteen, who served 20 years with two deployments to Afghanistan, met Chanidaphon Sopimpa from Thailand after losing his wife to cancer in 2022. They married two years later and were actively pursuing her green card when ICE arrested her at her final interview on November 18.
“I kind of feel betrayed, to be honest,” Shasteen said, reports KYMA. “We do everything that we can to protect and serve our country. And then they betray us by treating us like we’ve never done anything.” His son has been avoiding their home, telling his father it reminded him of when his mother passed. Immigration attorney William Menard also represents a Navy Veteran whose wife from Australia was arrested the same day under identical circumstances.
The Veteran told Menard, “I served the country and, like, this is what I get.” An immigration judge later ordered her release on bond, and they continue to work toward her green card. Meanwhile, immigration enforcement has been expanding into unexpected areas, Congress is now debating ICE’s role at TSA after a failed attempt to address airport security failures, with travelers bearing the cost.
Published: Apr 7, 2026 12:15 pm