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Wife of missing soldier faces deportation

The wife of Spc. Alex Jimenez, who has been missing since May 12 when his checkpoint was ambushed south of Baghdad, is facing possible deportation because she is in the United States illegally.

Jimenez, who is from Lawrenceville, Mass., had petitioned for a green card for his wife, Yaderlin Hiraldo, whom he married in 2004, according to Boston TV station WBZ.

The couple’s attorney, Matthew Kolken, said Yaderlin illegally entered the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 2001 and her husband’s request for a green card and legal residence status for her alerted authorities to her presence.

She wouldn’t be eligible for a green card under the circumstances, but Kolken said he is seeking a hardship waiver for her.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry fired off a letter June 20 on Hiraldo’s behalf to Homeland Defense Secretary Michael Chertoff urging him to prevent her deportation.

“I do not believe that Yaderlin should have her stress and grief compounded by additional worries about her own immigration status. I request that no further action be taken on Yaderlin’s case while her husband is missing in action,” Kerry wrote, explaining that Special Forces soldiers are still looking for him and Pvt. Brian Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., who disappeared with him.

The soldiers’ identification cards were found Saturday in an al-Qaida safe house 75 miles north of Baghdad along with video production equipment, computers and weapons, the U.S. military said.

An al-Qaida front group claimed in a video posted on the Internet earlier this month that the soldiers were killed and buried, and showed images of the IDs. The video offered no proof of their fates.

The body of a third soldier, Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif., who was taken in the same attack on the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division was found floating in the Euphrates River less than two weeks later.

Four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator were killed in the ambush.

“I believe this is a very real test of our government’s compassion for a military family which has already made enormous sacrifices for the United States,” Kerry’s letter said.

Kolken said if Hiraldo were to leave the U.S., she would have to wait 10 years before reapplying for entry.

“I can’t imagine a bigger injustice than that, to be deporting someone’s wife who is fighting and possibly dying for our country,” Kolken told the TV station.

An immigration judge put a temporary stop to the proceedings since Jimenez was reported missing. The soldier’s wife is living with family members in Pennsylvania, the station reported.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.