American Veteran Forced Back to Mexico After Drug Charge

A U.S veteran who served two tours in the army in Afghanistan has been deported from
his native home of Chicago. Miguel Perez jr. joined the army just months prior to the events of
9/11 and served from 2002-2003. He later left the army in 2004 with the status of general
discharge because he was caught smoking marijuana on the military base. However, Perez’s drug
problems would just stem from there. Once he returned to Chicago, Perez began drinking
habitually and experimenting heavily with drugs. This path eventually led to a felony drug
conviction, predicated on his involvement in transporting over two pounds of cocaine to an
undercover police officer. This felony charge would ultimately be the root cause of Perez’s
deportation back to Mexico.

Perez would be convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Roughly halfway
through his sentence, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began deportation
proceedings. He has been in the immigration agency’s custody since 2016, and has been deported
back to his native Mexico just last Friday. Perez initially arrived in America when he was just
eight years old when his father was offered a job in Chicago. Both of his parents are naturalized
citizens currently and Perez also has two children that were born in the U.S. Perez was
unfortunately under the false pretense that service within the U.S military would automatically
grant him citizenship.
Miguel Perez argues that his drug issues culminated from PTSD he suffered from his
tours in Afghanistan and really began to manifest during his second tour. Drugs and alcohol were
widely available as compared to his first tour so he began experimenting with them as a way to
cope with the mental traumas that are associated with military combat. This growing addiction

was exacerbated once he was back in Chicago where Perez used drugs in order to normalize the
strange world around him. He remarks on his difficulties adjusting to post-military life stating,
“But the addiction really started after I got back to Chicago, when I got back home because I did
not feel very sociable.” This socialization of returning vets has been and continues to be a
prominent issue in American society. This is due in large part to the isolationist nature of
America as a whole. The rugged individualism that characterizes the modern U.S is a vast departure
from the brotherhood and sense of community that members of the military are accustomed to
while they are in service. This makes is increasingly difficult to adequately adjust to such a
drastic change in lifestyle and to come to terms with the horrors experienced during war. It is
estimated that one in ten U.S veterans will return from Afghanistan with significant symptoms of
PTSD, says Sebastian Junger. Junger is a journalist who spent a year in the trenches of
Afghanistan and gained an acute understanding of the challenges faced by U.S veterans and their
difficulties in coping with them.

The story of Miguel Perez hits on two key issues within American society. First, his
journey both within the military and afterward highlights the difficulties faced by all U.S
veterans. These difficulties are largely ignored by our society which in turn propagates and
intensifies their struggle. I would argue that Perez lacks the necessary mental health counseling
which would better allow him to have a productive transition into civilian society. This
opportunity was taken away from him when ICE decided to deport him, rather than allow him to
seek help. This leads into the second American societal issue that the Perez case raises. Perez
was under the false impression that service in the military would be a gateway to citizenship.
This is normally true as their are provisions that allow the expedited applications for citizenship

of veterans. However, these provisions only apply to veterans who show “good moral character”.
His felony charge disallowed this expediting. This shows that immigration policy focuses more
on hate than logic. This man was a functioning and productive member of society until the
horrors of war forced him to seek out substances to cope. Rather than sending him back to a
country he has not called home since he was eight years old, he should have had access to mental
health institutions that could have helped him work through his traumatic issues. Currently, Perez
fears for his life as he believes cartels in Mexico will recruit him based on his possession of
combat experience and will kill him if he refuses.

Featured Image via Wikimedia