California Trying to Help Deported Veterans

California lawmakers consider legal aid for deported vets
KPCC 89.3
Dorian Merina
April 27, 2017

"When someone is willing to die for this country and give us everything that they have ... we just thought it was time to figure out a way to get them back home." Gonzalez Fletcher

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Antonio Romo holds a picture of himself from his days at boot camp, as he stands next to the U.S. border wall on the beach in Tijuana, Mexico. Romo is one of dozens of U.S. military veterans who were deported after criminal convictions and have fought for years to be allowed to return. GREGORY BULL/AP

The California legislature is considering a bill that would provide state-funded legal aid to deported military veterans. It has drawn bipartisan support and is headed for a possible vote on the Assembly floor next week.

The measure, AB 386, would commit the State Department of Social Services to contract directly or indirectly with a nonprofit legal group to provide assistance to immigrant veterans with green cards who have been deported following an honorable discharge.

"It's very hard once you've been deported to go into immigration court and argue your case to come back," said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), the bill's author.
read more here