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I“I raised my right hand twice to serve this country, and this is how they treat me.”
It is a sacred contract.
When a soldier raises their right hand and swears an oath to defend the Constitution the unspoken promise is that the country will in turn protect them and their family. But for U.S. Army Specialist Matthew Slagle that promise has been violently broken by the very government he serves.
While Spc. Slagle is stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah Georgia his wife Maryan Slagle is sitting in a cell at the Stewart Detention Center a notorious ICE facility over four hours away. She has been held there for more than two months.
The Threat in Colombia
If she is deported to Colombia the country she fled it is not an exaggeration to say it could be a death sentence.
Maryan did not come to the United States to subvert the law. She came to survive. She is an asylum seeker who fled Colombia after facing horrific violence at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) a brutal guerrilla group.
The danger she faces is not hypothetical. It is documented and recognized by the Colombian government itself.
She was officially placed on Colombia’s National Victim Registry.
Her brother was shot multiple times by FARC militants.
A neighbor in her region was beheaded.
Recognizing this extreme danger the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially agreed that she had a credible fear of returning to Colombia and granted her parole while her asylum case was pending.
She met Matthew they fell in love got married and began the process of applying for a green card through marriage submitting a mountain of evidence from photos to documents proving their bona fide relationship.
The Bureaucratic Trap
Despite following the rules the system turned on her. When Maryan reported to a routine check in at a court in Atlanta ICE agents detained her. The reason was her pending asylum case had not yet been adjudicated.
She was sent to the Stewart Detention Center at the end of January a privately run facility known for its harsh conditions.
Matthew wearing the uniform of the United States Army has pleaded with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to expedite her case or grant a continuance. He has provided proof of his active duty status hoping that the agency would recognize the sacrifice of a service member.
They looked at me knowing that if they allowed a continuance and let us get that petition approved and expedited it would likely get done Matthew stated in a recent interview. They looked at that they looked at my service and they said no.
The Ten Year Bar Extortion
Now the Slagle family is facing an impossible choice a situation Matthew describes as fearing for their lives.
To avoid a formal deportation order which would trigger a harsh 10 year bar preventing Maryan from returning to the U.S. or her husband for a decade they are being pressured to agree to a voluntary departure.
This means Maryan would have to willingly return to Colombia the very country where FARC militants targeted her family. It is a cruel bureaucratic form of extortion. Accept a death sentence or be banished from your husband for ten years.
A Broken Promise
The story of Matthew and Maryan Slagle is a glaring indictment of an immigration system that has become so hyper focused on volume and quotas that it no longer recognizes humanity logic or loyalty.
I wear my country’s flag over my heart every day in uniform Matthew said and my country is turning around and doing this.
The administration frequently touts its support for the military wrapping its policies in the language of patriotism and national security. Yet when an active duty soldier begs for his wifes life the bureaucracy answers with a slammed cell door.
If a soldier cannot trust the government to protect his family while he protects the nation the contract is broken. And until Maryan is released from the Stewart Detention Center the words support our troops are nothing more than a hollow slogan.
