Deported U.S. Marine veteran from Long Beach arrives in El Salvador, goes to jail

Deported U.S. Marine veteran from Long Beach arrives in El Salvador, goes to jail

by Roxana Kopetman

A U.S. Marine combat veteran who was unexpectedly deported to El Salvador on Wednesday got another surprise when he arrived there – authorities jailed him.

Because Jose Segovia Benitez had a criminal record in the United States, he was jailed for about five days while local police investigate whether he is wanted for a crime in the Central American country, attorney Roy Petty said Thursday.

Segovia, 38, left El Salvador when he was 3 years old.

Segovia’s deportation, sometime from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning from a detention center in Arizona, took his family in Long Beach and a team of supporters nationwide by surprise.

Segovia’s new Dallas-based attorney Roy Petty was told by immigration officials that they had more time to file documents on his behalf, the lawyer said.  On Wednesday morning, Petty flew to Arizona to meet with Segovia but the Marine had already been deported.

This latest twist concerns Petty, who said he’s worried about whether Segovia is getting the medication he needs. He also noted that Segovia’s case, which has garnered media attention in the U.S., has also been publicized in El Salvador.

“He is afraid that the scrutiny there would invite the gangs to kidnap or kill him,” Petty said in an e-mail.

Petty plans to hire a lawyer in El Salvador while continuing to work to reopen his immigration case in the U.S.

Segovia was a legal permanent resident when he joined the Marines in 1999 and served two combat tours in Iraq, where he suffered a brain injury. After his honorable discharge in 2004, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and his injury but was never properly treated, his family said. That led him to drugs and alcohol and get into fights that landed him in jail, later prison. He was convicted of several felonies, including domestic violence.

After spending four years in prison, he was picked up in January 2018 from prison and taken to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County to be processed for deportation. Two aggravated felony convictions opened him up to losing his legal status and so-called green card.

Segovia’s supporters are asking California Gov. Gavin Newsom to pardon him – a move that would allow the Marine to return to the United States.

All credit goes to Roxana Kopetman Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com