U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a combat veteran and double amputee who lost both legs flying a helicopter mission in Iraq, escalated her monthslong campaign against the Trump administration’s treatment of military families on Wednesday, posting on X that more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty service members have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Donald Trump returned to office. Duckworth called the detentions “the highest betrayal” and said the practice “has to stop.”
Duckworth’s full post, published at 10:48 a.m. on September 23, 2026, read:
“More than 50 military spouses and parents have been detained by Trump’s ICE since he took office.
How can we expect our servicemembers to focus on the mission if their loved ones are being targeted at home?
This is the highest betrayal. And it has to stop.”
Building on Months of Warnings
Wednesday’s post is the latest in a string of public statements Duckworth has made over the course of 2026 accusing the Trump administration of abandoning a decades-old, bipartisan practice of shielding the immediate families of U.S. service members from deportation. Duckworth has repeatedly used nearly identical language — “there is no higher betrayal to our heroes than to have one of their family members deported by the same nation they sacrificed to defend” — in statements dating back to January, when she introduced federal legislation aimed at reversing the policy shift.
The PROTECT Military Families Act
On January 8, 2026, Duckworth and Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) introduced the PROTECT Military Families Act, a bicameral bill that would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant parole to qualifying spouses, widows, widowers, parents and children of current and former U.S. Armed Forces members. Under the bill, the Department of Homeland Security could deny parole only after issuing a detailed written justification jointly with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The Senate bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and is endorsed by Veterans for American Ideals.
“In his ICE raids, Donald Trump is targeting servicemembers, Veterans and their loved ones—separating families who have made tremendous sacrifices for our country,” Duckworth said at the bill’s introduction. “Our legislation would help support our men and women who served by protecting their families from deportation. They fought for this country, and it’s past time Congress joins us to fight for them too.”
A Direct Intervention in One Soldier’s Case
Duckworth’s warnings have not been limited to legislative proposals. In May 2026, she personally called Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to press for the release of Deisy Rivera Ortega, the wife of active-duty Army Sgt. 1st Class Jose Serrano, who was detained by ICE during a Military Parole in Place interview in El Paso, Texas, with no warrant and no explanation. Rivera Ortega was released within days of Duckworth’s call.
“I am so incredibly grateful for Deisy’s release and for her to be reunited with her family,” Duckworth said at the time. “Deisy was doing everything ‘the right way’: attending her Military Parole in Place interview when she was detained by ICE with no warrant and no explanation. There is no higher betrayal to our heroes than to have one of their family members deported by the same nation they sacrificed to defend. I’m thankful to Secretary Mullin for heeding my personal call to release Deisy, but she—and so many others—should never have been in this situation to begin with. I will never stop working to protect our Veterans and military families. They fought for this country, we must fight for them.”
A Formal Congressional Investigation
Duckworth’s escalating rhetoric has been backed by a formal congressional probe. In September 2025, Duckworth, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL), opened an investigation into the Trump administration’s arrest, detention and deportation of non-citizen service members, veterans and military families, sending letters to DHS and the Department of Defense demanding data and explanations.
The findings released from that investigation in mid-2026 showed that in the first year of Trump’s second term, ICE arrested 125 veterans — nearly two-thirds of whom did not have an active criminal warrant — and attempted to deport 282 veterans and their relatives. DHS declined to disclose how many active-duty troops and their families had separately been targeted.
“Deportation Traps” at Military Installations
More than 60 Democratic lawmakers, including Duckworth, sent a letter to administration officials in August 2026 alleging that the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security had coordinated to convert military bases into what the lawmakers described as “traps” for noncitizens, including detaining family members and other individuals interacting with military facilities for routine, lawful purposes and turning them over to ICE. The letter cited the case of a 22-year-old military wife who was detained while attempting to obtain a military spouse identification card.
“These efforts imperil military readiness, weaken servicemembers’ morale and betray America’s promises to the people who put their lives on the line for our nation,” the lawmakers wrote.
The AP Investigation Duckworth’s Post References
Duckworth’s figure of “more than 50” detained military spouses and parents corresponds to an Associated Press investigation published in August 2026, which found that more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members had been detained since Trump took office, with at least six deported, one self-deported, and at least eight remaining in ICE custody at the time of publication. The AP reported it compiled the tally by analyzing federal court records, reviewing media coverage and verifying details with families and attorneys, and cautioned that the actual number is likely higher, since DHS does not track such cases.
The AP investigation documented soldiers who were forced onto administrative leave to care for children alone, at least one who halted an imminent deployment after her husband was detained, and family members detained mid-interview while pursuing the legal status the military itself advertises to recruits. Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, whose wife was detained outside a Walmart in front of their 6-year-old daughter, told the AP: “How can I even focus on my military career because I have to worry about how my wife is doing?”
A Reversal From Prior Precedent, Including Trump’s First Term
The policy shift underlying the detentions traces to April 2025, when ICE rescinded a long-standing practice of treating military service as a “significant mitigating factor” in enforcement decisions, replacing it with guidance stating that “military service alone does not automatically exempt” a person from enforcement. Immigration law experts told the AP the change marks a stark break even from Trump’s first administration. Dan Gividen, who served as ICE’s deputy chief counsel from 2016 to 2019 under Trump, said his office rarely detained service members’ immediate relatives absent violent criminal history. “We would not place them into removal proceedings, period. That’s insane,” Gividen said. “The fact that they’re doing it now is just outrageous.”
DHS Response and Bipartisan Friction
DHS has said it does not compile data on detentions of military family members specifically, telling the AP: “DHS and ICE value the contributions of all those who have served in the U.S. military. U.S. military service alone does not automatically grant lawful immigration status, or exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.” The Pentagon declined to comment on the AP’s findings.
The issue has drawn scattered criticism even from Trump allies. Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar publicly advocated in July 2026 for the release of the wife of a retired Army staff sergeant who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying at a news conference that “the immigration system is failing the honorable and good Americans.”
Legislative Record and What Comes Next
The PROTECT Military Families Act remains before the Senate Judiciary Committee, formally titled the “Parole Relief Offering Troops Expedited Compassionate Treatment of Military Families Act,” having been introduced as S.3592 in the 119th Congress. A companion House bill, H.R. 6958, was introduced the same day by Reps. Cisneros and Salud Carbajal (D-CA).
Wednesday’s post did not announce new legislative action, but it reiterates the framing Duckworth has used consistently since January: that detaining the family members of active-duty troops undermines both military readiness and the government’s obligations to those who serve. Duckworth has not indicated whether her office plans further individual interventions of the kind that secured Rivera Ortega’s release, and her office had not published an accompanying press release as of Wednesday afternoon tied specifically to the X post.