- ICE detained and deported Esteban Rios, father of an active-duty Marine, after stopping him and his wife near Camp Pendleton, devastating their military family.
- The incident highlights a broader pattern of aggressive deportation policies targeting military families, spurring outrage, lawsuits, and calls for federal investigation.
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — In a gut-wrenching episode that has left a U.S. Marine and his pregnant sister reeling, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained and deported Esteban Rios, the father of a serving Marine, just days after he and his wife were stopped while trying to visit family at Camp Pendleton.
The incident, which unfolded on September 28, 2025, has drawn widespread condemnation as a stark example of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies tearing apart families with deep ties to the U.S. military, prompting calls for investigations and highlighting the emotional toll on service members who feel betrayed by the country they defend.
Esteban Rios and his wife, Luisa Rodriguez, both undocumented immigrants from Mexico who have lived in the U.S. for over three decades, were en route to pick up their daughter Ashley and her Marine husband at the Camp Pendleton gate when agents pulled them aside.
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Esteban, wearing his “lucky” red shirt and white hat emblazoned with “Proud Dad of a U.S. Marine,” was detained alongside Luisa.
Initially released with ankle monitors and ordered to check in a few days later, the couple returned as instructed—only to be taken into custody again and held downtown before transfer to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County.
By the following Friday, Esteban had been deported to Mexico, leaving Luisa’s fate unclear as of the latest reports.
Steve Rios, Esteban’s son and an active-duty Marine from Oceanside, California, recounted the harrowing moment to NBC 7 San Diego: “I just kept on looking at my parents. I didn’t know if it would be the last time I’d see them.”
Ashley, who is pregnant and had envisioned her mother by her side in the delivery room, broke down in tears at the gate, her sobs echoing the family’s sudden devastation. Before the check-in, Esteban had tried to reassure his children: “We’ll be fine.”
Steve, who sponsored his parents’ green card applications along with valid work authorizations, emphasized their spotless record: “It was just making them proud, right? I’ve seen all the struggles they’ve gone through. The least I could do… is serve this country.”
The couple, who have no criminal history, spent decades working dawn to dusk washing cars and cleaning houses to support their family.
The Rios family is far from alone in this nightmare. Esteban and Luisa’s detention fits a disturbing pattern of ICE targeting relatives of military members under the Trump administration’s ramped-up enforcement, which has tripled arrest quotas to 3,000 per day.
ICE’s statement to NBC 7 was boilerplate, stating, “As part of its routine operations, ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws… regardless of nationality.”
But critics, including immigration advocates, argue the agency’s focus on non-criminal cases like this one sows terror in communities and undermines the sacrifices of service members.
A Growing Crisis: Military Families Caught in Deportation Crosshairs
The Rios case echoes a series of heartbreaking stories where ICE’s actions have clashed with the military’s ethos of family support. In June 2025, Narciso Barranco, a 48-year-old landscaper and father of three U.S. Marines, was violently arrested by masked federal agents outside an IHOP in Santa Ana, California, while tending a lawn.
Video footage showed agents pinning him down and punching him repeatedly, sparking outrage and a viral outcry. Alejandro Barranco, one of the sons and a Marine veteran, told NPR he felt “betrayed” by the country his family served, stating, “My father always prioritized he and his two Marine brothers’ well-being so that they could ‘give back to this country.'”
Narciso was released on $3,000 bond after weeks in the Adelanto Detention Center, but the trauma lingered, with Alejandro describing the agents’ “unprofessional and uncalled for” tactics during a CNN interview.
Similar heartbreak struck Adrian Clouatre, a Marine veteran, whose wife Paola was detained by ICE in late May 2025 despite breastfeeding their 3-month-old daughter.
Paola, in the process of obtaining legal residency, was held after a green card appointment, leaving their family fractured.
Clouatre told the Associated Press he felt “betrayed,” especially as his service in Afghanistan should have shielded his loved ones. The case drew congressional attention, with Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) demanding answers from DHS.
In July 2025, Pascual Andres, father of two active-duty Marines, was detained after a minor fender-bender in California, despite no criminal record.
His daughters called it “not really fair,” highlighting the irony of their service while their father faced deportation to “Alligator Alcatraz,” a nickname for the harsh detention facility.
Newsweek reported the family’s plea: “We served this country—now it’s turning on us.”
Even veterans themselves aren’t safe. Jose Barco, a decorated Army vet with a Purple Heart from Iraq, faced deportation in April 2025 after a serious crime tied to battlefield trauma and bureaucratic delays in his citizenship application.
NPR detailed how Barco, born on a U.S. base in Germany to an American father, spent 15 years in prison as a model inmate but was still targeted by ICE post-release. His story, one of “battlefield trauma, bureaucratic bumbling, and eventually, a serious crime,” underscored systemic failures in supporting veteran immigrants.
A satirical claim in July 2025 that ICE deported Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz—the branch’s highest-ranking enlistee—spread on social media, but Snopes debunked it as Duffel Blog fiction, amid real fears of overreach. The Guardian reported in June 2025 on a surge in veteran family detentions, quoting Alejandro Barranco: “I feel betrayed… the country that I fought for.
Backlash and Calls for Reform: Military Leaders Weigh In
The Rios detention has amplified demands for change. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in September 2025 against DHS, arguing raids near schools and military bases violate the Fourth Amendment and chill rights.
“Fear shouldn’t be part of a service member’s family life,” said attorney Claudia Valenzuela. Illinois AG Kwame Raoul called for a federal probe into a related shooting, labeling it “tragic escalation.
Military leaders have spoken out too. In a July 2025 MSNBC interview, Alejandro Barranco joined Chris Hayes to decry the beating of his father: “I see my reflection in their pain.”
The Marine Corps, which sent hundreds to support ICE in Florida, faces internal tensions, with recruiters ordered to stop promoting parole-in-place policies for undocumented family members.
As Operation Midway Blitz continues—DHS reporting 5,000 arrests nationwide since September—stories like the Rios family’s humanize the policy’s toll.
Steve’s words linger: “Only the person up there knows” what comes next.
For families like theirs, the fight for reunion is just beginning, a poignant reminder that the “land of the free” can feel anything but for those who’ve sacrificed the most.
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