U.S. veterans deported after they served

U.S. veterans deported after they served

By CINDY CARCAMO / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ROSARITO, BAJA CALIFORNIA – Keeping tabs on his U.S. citizenship application wasn't much of a priority for Marine Cpl. Rohan Coombs when he served in the Persian Gulf War.

The aircraft maintenance specialist had more pressing concerns: the safety of his comrades as bombs rained down and people died around him in the desert.

Coombs, who came to the U.S. legally from Jamaica as a child and enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 20, served six years in the military. Eventually, he settled in Tustin and figured he was a U.S. citizen because he'd gone to war for his country.

He was wrong. Like hundreds of other men and women who served in the U.S. military, Coombs faces deportation and banishment from the country he went to war for after being arrested. In his case, he was arrested several times on charges of possession for use or sale of marijuana.

Just south of the U.S.-Mexico border in Rosarito, a contingent of about a dozen veterans who call themselves the "Banished Veterans" are lobbying to change an immigration act that allows legal residents who commit certain crimes to be deported, despite his or her military service.

The group has launched a website, Facebook page and created a network of advocates and attorneys who provide legal and emotional support to U.S. veterans who face deportation.
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