Immigrants have served in the U.S. military since our nation’s founding. Immigrants serve not only honorably but exceptionally: 20% of all Congressional Medal of Honor recipients are immigrants. Despite this exceptional service, the United States government has deported hundreds if not thousands of its own veterans over the past few decades alone and continues to do so to date. In response to the cruelty of this practice and building on extraordinary organizing by deported veterans themselves, advocates have long sought a mechanism for deported veterans to repatriate.

This report chronicles the resounding success of these advocates’ tireless efforts to repatriate deported veterans — first piecemeal, and then via the Immigrant Military Members and Veterans Initiative (IMMVI) established during the Biden Administration. Launched July 2021, 138 deported veterans returned home to the United States under IMMVI. Each veteran was granted humanitarian parole, which allowed them to return temporarily (typically for one year) to the United States to reunite with their families, obtain V.A. healthcare, and work on restoring their immigration statuses. A small number of veterans also paroled in their spouses or children. Of these 138 veterans, roughly half restored their Lawful Permanent Resident status (“green cards”) or naturalized (became U.S. citizens), allowing them to remain in the United States permanently.

Section II of this report offers a description of how and why the United States deports immigrant veterans, as well as the toll of deportation on former service members. Section III chronicles early attempts to repatriate immigrant veterans. Section IV tells the story of how deported veterans and advocates both at home and abroad pushed the Biden Administration to streamline and facilitate veteran repatriation. Section V offers an analysis of the IMMVI program, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the initiative. Finally, the conclusion takes stock of the current grim reality deported veterans (like so many other beneficiaries of government programs) face during the Trump Administration.