Cesar Lopez said it was a commercial he saw as a child that first made him want to join the U.S. Marines.

Watching the soldiers, he remembers being in awe of their physique. Later, when he was in high school, he recalls wanting to do something meaningful. The Marines, Lopez said, felt like the perfect opportunity to do just that and make his family, immigrants from Durango, Mexico, proud. 

"I wanted to give back to the country that took my mom and me in," Lopez, 52, recalled. "It was my way of paying back."

But in 2013, nearly two decades after finishing his service, Lopez was deported to Mexico after a customs check found an old marijuana conviction. He described the experience as life-changing. Determined to return to the U.S., he trained before hiking across a mountain on the Mexican border to get back in. 

Military service has long been a pathway for immigrants to become naturalized citizens, and more than 100,000 noncitizens in the military became Americans from 2000 through 2015. But as Lopez found, putting one's life on the line for the U.S. is no guarantee against being booted from the country.

In the last decade-plus, Lopez has dedicated himself from his home in Las Vegas to raising awareness and stopping the deportation of veterans — including the dozens who have been deported since President Donald Trump stepped back into office. In the 2010s, he started a Facebook page titled "Unified US Deported Veterans Las Vegas 'The Barracks'" that has more than 1,000 followers.

As for other immigrants, the atmosphere has changed markedly for foreign-born veterans during the past two years. In February 2025, the Trump administration reversed a Biden-era policy that directed immigration agents to take a person's military record into consideration before arresting them. His administration has also weakened protections for family members of people who had served, which the Biden administration avoided targeting. 

Although there isn't any publicly available information on how many Nevada-based veterans or active service members have been deported, a letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year revealed that the agency arrested 125 veterans from January 2025 to January 2026. 

The letter also noted nearly 300 former military members or their immediate families were on track to be deported. 

In comparison, an estimated 92 veterans were deported from 2013 to 2018, although advocacy groups believe the number is much higher. 

To be eligible to serve, foreign-born individuals must be lawful permanent residents. For military members — many of whom have experienced physical and emotional trauma because of their service — the effects of deportation can be especially devastating.

"The stakes are life or death," Lopez said. "It's harder for them to get their benefits. Some of them never get them, and they die abroad." 

Such deportation cases in Nevada have drawn national attention. In February, the wife of Las Vegas Marine veteran Patrick Baja was deported at an interview to obtain legal status as his spouse. The couple had been waiting for the appointment for nearly six years and Diana Butnarciuc, Baja's wife, had no criminal history and came to the U.S in 2008 as an asylum seeker.

Baja said that Butnarciuc's arrest was the first at that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. She was detained at the Henderson Detention Center for more than a month, and in April, Butnarciuc was deported to an Eastern European country, blocking her return to the U.S. for at least a decade. 

Baja, who is 100 percent disabled because of his military service, told PBS that her deportation was "devastating."

"She is my everything," Baja said. "I need her every single day."

Baja and his wife, through their lawyer, declined to comment for this article.

Past trauma

In June, Lopez finally received his military disability benefits after waiting more than 30 years. 

Lopez said that the benefits will provide much-needed financial and medical assistance and help protect him against any potential deportation charges.

"With that in hand, it's harder for the government to come after me," Lopez told The Indy. "I have some ways to legally defend myself."

Advocates for deported veterans have said that service-related injuries, trauma and stress can cause many veterans to turn to drug and substance abuse. That, in turn, can lead to them being arrested or deported because of related charges. Lopez, for example, said that after he left military service, he struggled with his mental health and received no help for his "psychiatric issues." 

"It's only a matter of time that those veterans that don't get the assistance … get in trouble, that is a proven fact," he said.

James Smith, the co-founder of the group Black Deported Veterans of America, said that on top of coping with trauma, many veterans struggle to reintegrate and connect with people in civilian society. He said developing anti-social behaviors as a coping mechanism is part of their training and a result of combat.

He pointed out that more than 20 veterans die of suicide per day. 

"Our system does not recognize mental health or anguish as valid injury," Smith said. "A lot of our veterans are just trying to cope."

Smith has worked closely with Lopez, coordinating to bring back deported veterans nationwide. Smith credited Lopez for inspiring a Biden-era program called the Immigrant Military Members Initiative, which aimed to connect members with benefits and prevent unjust deportation. It has since been discontinued.

Smith and Lopez agreed that deported veterans is an issue neglected by both Democrats and Republicans. Lopez said that he's confronted several Nevada representatives about the issue with few results.

Smith, who is a self-described "concierge" for veterans seeking assistance, said that he also helped connect Baja — the man whose wife was deported — to congressional members for help. 

"In some cases, it doesn't matter how much weight any of them have," Smith said. "They get deported anyways."