The Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigration aims to deport some 1 million people per year. Caught up in the upheaval are a group of people who up until this point had largely been protected from the threat of deportation: the parents and spouses of active-duty service members.

The administration has detained dozens of military parents and spouses since Trump took office for his second term, an AP investigation found. It’s a move that’s wholly unprecedented, and an about-face from nearly 20 years of immigration policy across the political spectrum, including the first Trump administration.

This story is bigger than the 52 cases it outlines. It reveals an upending of long-held norms around immigration policy and the rollback of years of bipartisan consensus on how military families should be treated. It took our reporters to bring these families’ stories to light — will you support their work by making a donation today?

Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo visits his wife, Maisa Lopes Eliaser, a Brazilian national who is being detained by ICE, at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, La., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Joseph Vidrine)

The Associated Press was the first to report on this major policy shift in what has become one of the most charged issues of the second Trump administration. As families were separated and service members worried for their loved ones, AP journalists pressed the Pentagon for comment and scoured court records to piece together the full picture since the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t compile data on these cases.

AP journalist Jack Brook spent months speaking to active-duty soldiers whose family members were facing deportation. He shares:

All these soldiers are people who believe in this country and have been willing to put their lives on the line to fulfill their duties.

Many of them had already been trying to use the legal avenues available to military service members to adjust a spouse or parent's legal status, only to have their family member get detained at the immigration appointment. Some had enlisted in the military, in part, because they had been told their families could receive these immigration benefits.

Without AP journalists like Jack, these families’ stories might never have been told. Now, members of Congress are demanding an investigation in response to our reporting, pressing the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs for answers about this uptick in deportations.

AP’s journalism has real impact — but we need your help. Your donation helps us create reporting like this that holds power accountable and shares stories that might’ve otherwise been lost. Donate to The Associated Press today.

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