A Navy veteran who served during the Iraq War is now at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, facing possible deportation.He has an extensive criminal history, as his mother and advocates contend he was a shell of himself after returning from his deployments, pointing to systemic failures in caring for those who have served.Benito Miranda Hernandez and his mother Maria Miranda came to the U.S.
from Mexico as green card holders when he was a young child, she said.He later joined the Navy and served three tours of duty during the Iraq War.
“When he came back, that’s when I said, ‘This isn’t my son anymore,’” Miranda said in Spanish.“He wasn’t even a shadow of the little boy who left.”A search of court records turned up an extensive criminal history.
Hernandez has spent years in prison on various felony drug and weapons convictions, as well as violations of probation, in Virginia and California.“All they taught him there was to shoot,” Miranda said in Spanish.“They took him to Iraq and taught him that.
I don’t justify it.I know that what he did was wrong.
But he had to survive.”“He does have PTSD, he served during wartime and that’s something that he struggles [with],” said Hector Barajas, an Army veteran who was deported himself years ago.Barajas was later allowed to return and became a U.S.
citizen, now advocating for servicemembers who have been removed or are facing removal.“We have homeless veterans.We have veterans that take their lives,” Barajas said.
“Having a mental health issue and issues with the law — it does happen, and we have to learn how to take care of them, not deport them and throw them away, you know?”ICE did not respond to request for comment on Hernandez’s case.The Council on Criminal Justice said in a 2023 report that about a third of military veterans have a history of arrest — compared to one in five civilians.“Partially, I believe, because we’re not reconditioned to come into civilian socie...