LULAC And Team Celebrate A Deported Veteran Home Again
Nation’s Largest and Oldest Latino Civil Rights Organization Says 65-Year-Old Army Veteran Jose Camacho Is Gravely Ill
Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) late Tuesday night welcomed home a former servicemember who is now fighting a battle for his life and was allowed to return on humanitarian grounds to receive urgently needed healthcare at a VA hospital in El Paso.
Camacho served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves before being honorably discharged. However, he was ordered deported in 2005 after the Army veteran completed a prison sentence on a drug-related offense. He re-entered the United States unlawfully and was deported again in 2013.
Just days ago, LULAC was alerted to his seriously deteriorating health and together with a team of other civil rights advocates, coordinated an urgent push to bring Camacho home before it was too late. The team worked non-stop with elected representatives, VA officials, and the Biden Administration. Shortly before sundown Tuesday, the once-proud soldier who loyally served the country that deported him, was allowed one last time to cross the international bridge at El Paso-Juarez to a waiting ambulance that rushed him to the VA hospital.
Domingo Garcia - LULAC National President
“Congratulations to everyone who helped in bringing home a former American servicemember. LULAC continues to work hard to change the law. Undocumented immigrants who have served our country faithfully in a military uniform should not be deported after paying their debt for a crime.”
Joel Taboada, LULAC Green Card Veterans Council President
“Over the last few years, we have advocated for veterans to be repatriated and receive the care they earned through their service to our country. Mr. Camacho is only one of the hundreds of our brothers and sisters who are facing similar circumstances. Let's get all of our vets back home.”
Dee James, Repatriate our Patriots Board Member
“Mr. Camacho’s return to the country he fought for and the country he considers his home was the ONLY and the RIGHT thing to do today. We are thankful for the leaders who made the right call and took the appropriate action to make this happen.”
Nick Paz – LULAC Repatriation Task Force Member
"Yesterday was a microcosm of how truly difficult it is for our exiled veterans to seek care. We are looking forward to continued cooperation between the federal government and NGOs to bring a more streamlined process of repatriating our exiled veterans in the near future. We are very grateful for the professionalism of the El Paso VA, going above and beyond to help bring care to our veteran brother Jose Camacho."
###
About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services, and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting the critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/