In the midst of the tightening of U.S. immigration policy under the mass deportation plan pushed by the Donald Trump administration, the Clouatre family’s story has generated a strong impact.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detained Paola Clouatre, a 25-year-old Mexican mother, while she was still breastfeeding her three-month-old baby, leaving her Marine Corps veteran husband alone with their two children in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Arrest in the middle of an appointment
Paola was detained on May 27, 2025 during an appointment at USCIS to advance her legal residency.
Despite being married to Adrian Clouatre, a service-disabled veteran, she was handcuffed by ICE agents and taken to a detention center more than four hours away.
The deportation order dates back to 2018, when his mother failed to attend an immigration hearing.
The most serious thing is that Paola did not know that such an order existed, since she had been estranged from her mother since she was young and had been in shelters.
Even so, USCIS decided not to show leniency, which surprised even legal experts, who claim that more discretion was previously offered to military families.
Separated family: impact on children
Adrian, 26, reports that he now has to formula feed his youngest daughter, who no longer has a breastfeeding bond with her mother.
Every night her almost two-year-old son asks for “mommy.”
He makes an eight-hour trip every chance he gets to visit his ICE-detained wife.
La historia de la familia Clouatre ha generado un fuerte impacto
Although enlistment in the Marines has been promoted as a way to obtain family immigration protection, the Clouatre case demonstrates the opposite.
A February 28, 2025 memorandum states that traditionally protected groups, such as military families, will no longer be exempted from deportation.
Call for help for Paola Clouatre
Adrian has opened a GoFundMe page to ask for help with Paola’s legal expenses.
“We are doing everything we can to bring Paola home, but the costs are more than we can afford on our own,” says the petition on the fundraising page.
“We need urgent help to cover Paola’s bail (probably between $10,000 and $15,000), legal fees, gas and basic necessities such as formula for our children,” adds Adrian.
Regarding his wife’s case, Adrian explains that they have mailed “a separation application (to separate my wife’s case from her mother’s) along with an application to reopen, a change of address for EOIR (we already filed one for USCIS before we moved) and an emergency suspension of deportation.”
The Marine veteran says his children are staying strong, “but my son has been having breakdowns lately. Paola is also staying strong and we talk daily.”
Decreases protection
Currently, USCIS does maintain a special program for certain family members of military personnel who entered the country without authorization.
However, discretion has been significantly reduced.
Now, even in humanitarian cases, such as Paola’s, arrests are executed more rigorously.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin stated that the administration “is not going to ignore the law.”
On social media, USCIS added that “the government does not tolerate disobedience.”
However, Adrian defends that his wife did not intentionally violate the law, as she entered the country as a minor and was seeking asylum with her mother.
“If I had known about that order, I would have done everything differently,” he said.
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