A war veteran wounded in combat, awarded a Purple Heart and having lived most of his life in the United States, was deported this Friday by immigration authorities, despite the risks he faces and the pain of a family marked by Cuban exile.
According to NewsNation, José Barco-Chirino, 39 years old, was deported from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Arizona to Nogales, Mexico, although his family claims they are still unaware of his actual whereabouts.
Barco legally arrived in the United States with his parents from Venezuela when he was just four years old. His family had fled Cuba after his father was exiled and first moved to Venezuela before seeking political asylum in the U.S. There, he grew up, studied, and built his life.
He served in the U.S. Army and completed two missions in Iraq, where he saved the lives of two comrades trapped under a burning Humvee after the explosion of an explosive device. The rescue left him with severe burns and a traumatic brain injury.
His bravery earned him the Purple Heart, a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces awarded to members who are wounded or killed in action against enemy forces, according to reports from NewsNation and Arizona Mirror.
Despite having applied for citizenship twice, once while deployed in 2006, his applications were lost, according to documents cited by CNN and testimonies from his superiors.
“The country for which he bled and nearly died never processed his citizenship,” lamented Ricardo Reyes, director of VetsForward, to Arizona Mirror, calling the deportation “a national disgrace.”
His worst day condemned him
In 2008, carrying the aftermath of his injuries, insomnia, nightmares, nearby explosions, and a severe post-traumatic stress disorder, Barco was involved in a violent incident in Colorado Springs. He fired shots during a confrontation, and a bullet injured a young pregnant woman. He was convicted of attempted homicide and other felonies, according to FOX31 and CNN.
He spent 15 years in prison, where he completed rehabilitation programs and maintained good behavior. On the very day he was released, January 21, 2025, ICE was already waiting for him, contradicting even what his family had been repeatedly informed, according to CNN.
For months, ICE tried to deport him to Venezuela, but the country refused to take him back: officials asserted that Barco did not sound Venezuelan and questioned his birth certificate.
There were also concerns that, due to his family history connected to the Cuban exile—his father being a political prisoner—he might be imprisoned or tortured both in Cuba and in Venezuela.
The lawyers requested that, before sending him to those countries, he at least be transferred to Mexico, where he could receive treatment for his PTSD. However, the family insisted that the only safe destination should be the United States, the country where he grew up, studied, built his family, and fought for.
"Now I am a man without a country."
In audios shared by CNN, Barco described his despair at not belonging anywhere: “My service, my sacrifice, my bloodshed didn’t matter. I am basically a man without a country.”
His wife, Tia Barco, fears for his life. His lawyers warn that he could be a victim of torture. And veterans like Ricardo Reyes are denouncing that his deportation sends a devastating message: "When a veteran is deported, all veterans are dishonored."
More than 10,000 veterans are said to have been deported between January and June of this year, according to data cited by Arizona Mirror. The Trump administration reversed the protections that previously required ICE to consider military service in these cases.
Barco is not just a legal file: it is the story of an exiled boy, a decorated soldier, a man wounded by war and broken by a system unable to recognize the country that he did defend.
Today, his family, exiled Cubans and Venezuelans, is waiting for a response. Or simply to know for sure where he is.
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