Media Contact

David Colker, ACLU SoCal, dcolker@aclusocal.org, 626-755-4129
Heidi Martinez, HDDD, heidi@sdpartners.org, 760-505-8067

SAN DIEGO — Marco Chavez, who was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. was deported to Mexico because of a criminal record.

But Gov. Jerry Brown, recognizing his military service, granted him a full pardon, enabling community organizations to work toward his re-entry to the U.S. After 15 years in Mexico — a country he left when he was an infant — Marco Chavez is coming home.

What: Marco Chavez will be walking across the border to a welcome gathering organized by Honorably Discharged, Dishonorably Deported; the American Civil Liberties Union and others who helped bring about his return.

When: Thursday, December 21, at about 9:30 a.m. (depending on possible delays in processing)

Where: Chavez will be entering the U.S. through the:
PedEast Facility (Across from the San Ysidro Transit Center)
720 E San Ysidro Blvd, San Diego, CA 92173

Who: Members of Marco Chavez’s family are expected to be on hand. Also Nathan Fletcher, chair of the Honorably Discharged/Dishonorably Deported Coalition; Norma Chavez, Peterson Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties

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Related Content

Publication
Jul 7, 2016
U.S. Army Veteran Hector Barajas in his uniform, standing near the U.S. border. Discharged, then Discarded: How U.S. Veterans are Banished by the Country They Swore to Protect
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Discharged, Then Discarded

This report features a number of veterans who were in the U.S. legally and sustained physical wounds and emotional trauma in conflicts as far back as the war in Vietnam. Once they returned from service, however, they were subject to draconian immigration laws that reclassified many minor offenses as