PhotoA United States Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan was deported to Mexico after his application for citizenship was denied because of a felony drug conviction, his lawyer and immigration officials said. Mr. Perez-Montes’s case rose to prominence after Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and an Iraq war veteran, appealed to the Department of Homeland Security on Friday to stay his deportation and review his case. As a paratrooper and private first class in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003, he began suffering from “severe” symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Senator Duckworth said. Seven years later, in 2011, the Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed him with PTSD related to his service, the senator said. care, he self-medicated with drugs and alcohol to cope with his PTSD, which eventually resulted in his drug conviction,” she added, calling his deportation a “shocking betrayal.”

Source: New York Times March 26, 2018 19:23 UTC