Deportation aborted! Wife of US soldier back with family after mid-flight phone call

United States (AP) - An American soldier’s wife who spent more than a month in federal immigration detention is back home after officers removed her from a deportation flight to Brazil, the family has revealed.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press highlighted the case of Maisa Lopes Eliaser, one of dozens of spouses or parents of United States military personnel detained after President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back protections for military families amid its push for mass deportations.

Following the report by the Associated Press, a group of Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into deportations of military service members and their families.

Eliaser was placed on a deportation flight Wednesday to her native Brazil when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on the plane received a phone call about her mid-flight, she told the Associated Press.

After the phone call, Eliaser said she was asked by an ICE officer whether she wanted to continue on to Brazil or go back to the US.

“Who made the call? We don’t know,” said Eliaser’s husband, Army Staff Sergeant Alexis Jaramillo.

“But someone made the phone call and then she came back.”

While other detainees were led off the plane in Brazil, Eliaser stayed on board and returned to Louisiana.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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