Deported Veteran Returns to U.S. Seeking Humanitarian Parole

An update on Humberto Barajas, who we heard from in May.

By Joy DiazJuly 8, 2016 10:15 am,

Back in May we interviewed Humberto Barajas, a U.S. Veteran who served in the 82nd Airborne from 1995 to 2001. He was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas, but is now in Tijuana, Mexico. He was deported 13 years ago – even though he was honorably discharged from the military.

Now, Barajas is coming back to the U.S.

“Today we are going to be asking for Humanitarian Parole as a group,” Barajas says. “We have a group of 11 veterans who served in combat and in peace time. Combat veterans will be asking for Humanitarian Parole based on the fact that they suffer from PTSD and they will be asking to get access to the VA health system in the United States.” 

 Veterans from wars as old as the Vietnam War and from conflicts as recent as Iraq and Afghanistan will be turning themselves in to border authorities along with Barajas.

“What we expect at the border today is to get a 90 day visa – or humanitarian medical parole,” Barajas says. “The authorities are going to review our cases and they are also up in D.C., so we hope that they look at the files very carefully. Some of the men were able to get psychological evaluations by a volunteer psychologist. If they say no, we will return to Mexico and continue this fight to try to get access to the VA healthcare and try to return home.”

Barajas hopes to at least be able to see his daughter while he is here. He is also applying for U.S. citizenship, but has no word on that yet.