SANTA FE, N.M.

The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant was being held Tuesday at an immigration detention facility in El Paso, Texas, amid signs that the Trump administration is scaling back leniency toward immigrant family members of military personnel and veterans.

Jose Serrano, an active duty soldier who served three tours in Afghanistan, said immigration agents arrested his wife, Deisy Rivera Ortega, on April 14 as the couple attended an appointment with immigration services to take steps toward her permanent residency.

“A person opened the door, escorted us through the hallway, and at the end of the hallway, my wife got arrested,” Serrano said. “Arrested without any order, any warrant. They took away my wife. They don’t tell me anything.”

Rivera Ortega, a native of El Salvador, has since challenged her detention in U.S. District Court and requested an order to block her deportation to Mexico — a country where she has no ties and which restricts travel by active duty U.S. troops.

By James Kisoo