Amid Anti-Immigration Sentiment, San Antonio Vietnam Vet Fears Being Deported

SAN ANTONIO — Among his military service medals, Jorge Valencia has two Purple Heart commendations, including one for being shot in the chest when he fought in Vietnam. But his biggest fight today is with the Texas Department of Transportation, which has demanded he produce a current driver's license or face possible deportation.

Born in Mexico, Valencia followed in his older brother's footsteps by joining the U.S. Marine Corps, WOAI and other local news stations reported. He returned with a mantle-full of medals for his service, but adjusting to life was difficult: Four marriages and four divorces would follow before he married the woman he considers the love of his life. Along the way, Valencia misplaced the needed documentation to renew his driver's license, the news station reported.

"They tell me okay, bring me a birth certificate and some type of identification,” Valencia told the news station after he produced a birth certificate documenting his birth in Monterrey, Mexico, before his parents migrated to the U.S. when he was six years old.

But DPS officials said that wasn't enough, Valencia said. The veteran is missing his documentation of U.S. citizenship secured after returning home from war. As detailed on the agency's website, officials are required to verify an individual’s Social Security number, identity, and citizenship before renewing your Texas driver’s license or identification card—documentation Valencia's misplaced in the frenzy of his post-military life. Individuals not provided documents verifying U.S. citizenship or lawful presence status must do so before renewing their driver's licenses, according to the DPS website.

"They said, 'Well, where's your certificate that says you're an American citizen?' " Valencia said. "They tell me, 'We need more information, more evidence.' I said: what else can I give you? I've given you everything."

What would normally be a bookkeeping issue has been escalated to the level of existential crisis given the current political climate. Donald Trump has upped enforcement of immigration rules in the U.S., and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has accepted the charge with zeal. The governor recently penned legislation designed to end so-called sanctuary cities he perceives as harboring undocumented residents, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have since detained dozens of undocumented immigrants in Austin and San Antonio for deportation.

Immigration officials have also enthusiastically accepted the Trump-led charge. In an internal memo recently obtained by ProPublica, the head of ICE has tasked his agents to scour the landscape for undocumented immigrants given the Trump-led charge, directing his rank and file to take action against all undocumented immigrants crossing their paths, whether or not they have criminal histories. The memo confirms what immigrant advocates have long suspected, that ICE is not focused on detaining non-criminal immigrants as they indicated they would be doing in official press releases.

It's against this backdrop that Valencia now worries over his future. Without the documents needed to renew his driver's license, he now fears being deported. He fears being stopped by an ICE agent as he goes about his daily life before he secures his paperwork, which would only hasten his potential deportation.

"I know of several military people that served in combat and were deported,” Valencia told the news station. “I can get stopped for anything and they can take me to Bexar County [Jail]. How am I going to get out with no identification at all?"

Joaquín Castro, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 20th congressional district, has pledged to help. Patch will reach out to DPS officials on Monday for a status report.

In the meantime, Valencia is left to muse about his past and worry about his future amid what would normally be safe hometown environs far, far away from the fields of Vietnam.

"I joined for love of God and love of country," he told the news station. "I was grateful for the opportunities that my parents had."

>>> Read the full story at WOAI

Photo credit: James Paris via Wikimedia Commons