Wounded and struggling Iraq vet may lose his wife

Her crime was not her's. Her parents brought her here illegally when she was only six. How would this be justice for this combat wounded veteran to lose his wife for something she did not do? Now consider that what she is doing for this veteran is making his life with his wounds easier should be worth at least giving her citizenship for his sake alone, then add in their two children.

Struggling Iraq vet may lose his anchor
His wife, brought here illegally at age 6, is about to be deported. 'She's my everything,' her husband says.

By Teresa Watanabe

October 26, 2009


The nightmares still plague him. The terrifying mortar attacks. The loss of an Albanian soldier and ally, mutilated by shrapnel. The Iraqi children, bloodied and battered, lined up for medical care at the U.S. base at Mosul.

Two years after returning from his service in Iraq, U.S. Army Spc. Jack Barrios, 26, is fighting sleeplessness, sudden angry outbursts, aversion to emotional intimacy and other fallout from his post-traumatic stress disorder.

But as he undergoes counseling and swallows anti-depressants, the soldier is fighting an even bigger battle: to keep his family from collapsing as his wife, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, faces deportation.

His wife, 23-year-old Frances, was illegally brought to the United States by her mother at age 6, learned of her status in high school and discovered just last year that removal proceedings have been started. Her possible deportation has left Barrios in panic as he contemplates life without her.

The Army reservist says his wife is the family's anchor, caring for their year-old daughter and 3-year-old son and helping him battle his post-traumatic stress.
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