Newlywed wife of US soldier released from immigration detention.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank embraces Annie Ramos, his newlywed wife and an undocumented immigrant who arrived as a toddler, after her release from the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, La., on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Blank’s mother, Jen Rickling, looks on. Ramos, who was detained last week at her husband’s Army base, was released on Tuesday after spending five days at the detention center with hundreds of other women facing deportation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. (Lily Brooks/The New York Times)

By MIRIAM JORDAN

The newlywed wife of a U.S. soldier who was detained last week at her husband’s Army base was released Tuesday, after spending five days at a detention center with hundreds of other women facing deportation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The wife, Annie Ramos, 22, an immigrant who arrived in the United States as a toddler illegally, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at Fort Polk, Louisiana, on Thursday. She was told she had a final deportation order. It had been issued in April 2005, when she was 22 months old.

The couple had gone to the base to complete paperwork so Ramos could move in with her husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank, 23, who enlisted more than five years ago and is scheduled to begin training at the end of the month for deployment. But within hours, that plan was derailed, and days later, an article about the case by The New York Times quickly spread online.

It is highly unusual for the wife of a soldier to be detained because of her immigration status, and the case highlights how the administration’s mass deportation campaign has extended beyond targeting those with criminal histories.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ramos walked out of the detention facility and into her husband’s arms. Blank put her wedding ring back on her finger, which Ramos had been told to remove when she was detained. She has been fitted with an ankle monitor and has to visit an ICE office every week.

“I am grateful to God for being with me during this hard time, and for having my husband and family supporting me,” Ramos said.

“I feel awesome. Relieved,” Blank said Tuesday. “These have been the worst days of my life.”

The detention came just days after Ramos, a college student with no criminal record, and Blank had celebrated their marriage with family and friends in Houston, where she grew up.

Early Monday, the family and other supporters frantically called ICE offices, to try to prevent Ramos from being deported. They failed to reach anyone who would assist, Blank said.

That afternoon, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, where Blank’s family is from, called him to say that he would push for Ramos’ release, according to Blank and a spokesperson for Kelly. But Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy captain, cautioned that it could take time.

A few hours later, according to Blank, Kelly called again to say that he had spoken with Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary, and that Ramos would be released by Tuesday.

The spokesperson for Kelly said he was encouraged to hear that Mullin had already been aware of the case.

On Monday morning, Ramos saw herself on the news while in detention. But hours went by before she was able to speak with her husband, who grew increasingly anxious, said Jen Rickling, his mother.

“We did all the right things in the right way,” Rickling said, “and we had to believe that would work.”

The episode began Thursday afternoon, when the couple arrived at the base for a scheduled appointment so that Ramos could obtain a military spouse ID and enroll in health and other benefits.

Attendants at the visitor center, where they had to check in, asked about Ramos’ immigration status. The couple explained they had already hired a lawyer and started the process of adjusting her status.

An officer from the base’s criminal investigations division was called, followed by officials from the Department of Homeland Security. Ramos was handcuffed and driven away in a military police vehicle.

She was held in a room until three ICE agents arrived and transported her in shackles to a privately run detention center in Basile, Louisiana, which holds hundreds of women.

When U.S. citizens marry immigrants in the country illegally, their spouses become eligible for legal permanent residency through marriage, and they can apply for citizenship three years after receiving their green card.

Even those with a prior deportation order, often issued when they are children, are not typically detained and are able to adjust their immigration status, legal experts say, even though the process is complicated.

Special programs exist for military spouses to make it easier for them to adjust their status than it would be for spouses of other U.S. citizens.

Before President Donald Trump started a mass deportation campaign, military couples in the same situation usually would have been allowed to live on base and register for benefits while pursuing legal status, the experts said.

Ramos was just months away from earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry when she was detained. Her education was funded by TheDream.US, which provides scholarships for students in the country without legal permission.

She had also applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which protects from deportation many children brought to the United States as minors. But new applications have not been processed by the Trump administration.

Now reunited, Blank said he was focused on his future with Ramos.

“I’m complete and ready to serve our country,” he said. “And it’s her country, too.”