04/08/2026
Staff Sergeant Matthew Blank slid his wife's wedding ring back onto her finger on the sidewalk outside a detention facility in Basile, Louisiana, on Tuesday. ICE had made her remove it five days earlier when they shackled her at his Army base and drove her away.
Annie Ramos -- the 22-year-old Sunday school teacher and soon-to-be biochemistry graduate whose detention last week for trying to get a military spouse ID became a national story -- spent five days locked in a privately run, for-profit detention center with hundreds of women facing deportation.
Annie came to the United States from Honduras as a toddler. She has no criminal record. She and Matthew had hired a lawyer before their March wedding. A green card application was prepared. It was ready to file. None of that mattered.
When the ICE agents came for Annie, her mother-in-law Jen Rickling, said: "They told us that they didn't have a choice, they said they had to take Annie." They apologized. "I begged them not to take her. They said the higher-ups made them do it."
Her release did not come because the system worked. The family spent days frantically calling ICE offices and reaching no one who would help. Annie's release came because a New York Times article went viral and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona -- a retired Navy captain -- personally called DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin who had every incentive to make this story go away. Without that article and that phone call, Annie Ramos would still be inside.
A U.S. citizen who marries an undocumented immigrant can sponsor their spouse for permanent residency. That's true even for people with old deportation orders -- which are extremely common among those brought to this country as young children. According to immigration law experts, prior to Trump, a woman in Annie's situation would never have been detained.
"I am deeply grateful to my husband, Matthew," Annie said after she was freed, "who never stopped fighting for me, and to our families and community who surrounded us with love, prayers, and support. Because of them, I am home."
But while the family is celebrating tonight, the fight is far from over. A DHS spokesperson confirmed that Annie was released "on order of supervision with a GPS monitor while she undergoes further removal proceedings." She now wears an ankle monitor and must report to ICE every week.
The federal government is still spending taxpayer money trying to deport a soldier's wife -- a Sunday school teacher, a college student months from her degree, a woman who has lived in this country since she was a baby -- while her husband prepares to deploy to a war zone.
Annie and Matthew got a resolution, at least temporarily, because their story reached millions of people and a United States senator called the head of Homeland Security. Nearly 70,000 people currently in ICE detention will not get that call. The overwhelming majority have no criminal record. Many have lived in this country for years or decades. They will not get a New York Times article. They will not get a senator on the phone.
And the system holding them is killing people. Today, ICE confirmed the 46th death in federal immigration custody since Trump took office -- a 55-year-old Vietnamese immigrant found unresponsive at a facility in Indiana. Twenty-six people died during the entire four years of the Biden administration.
The first 14 months of this administration are the deadliest period for the detention system in over two decades -- people dying in facilities where medical neglect, overcrowding, and dangerous conditions have been documented again and again, run by for-profit companies that cannot humanely hold people at this scale and have no incentive to try.
Annie's story brought a flash of national attention to what tens of thousands of people are enduring without cameras, without senators, without anyone watching.
As for Annie -- who now wears an ankle monitor and must report to ICE weekly while the government continues trying to deport her to a country she doesn't remember -- she said: "All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby. I want to finish my degree, continue my education, and serve my community -- just as my husband serves our country with honor."
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Across the country, the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign is tearing apart families, separating U.S. citizens from their spouses, and punishing people who came to this country as children for decisions they had no part in making. Here's how to take action:
--> Call your senators and representative at (202) 224-3121. Demand that Congress refuse to fund ICE without real guardrails -- no more warrantless arrests, no more family detention, due process for the nearly three-quarters of people in ICE detention who have no criminal record. And demand the government drop its removal proceedings against Annie Ramos.
--> To help support Annie and Matthew's on-going legal fight, there is a GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-sisterinlaw-fight-for-citizenship
--> To help immigrants who have been arrested or detained, you can support the critical work of the National Immigrant Justice Center at https://immigrantjustice.org/ways-to-help/
--> To read about her release on ABC7, visit https://abc7.com/post/ice-arrests-newlywed-wife-army-soldier-military-base/18849935
--> To read the full report on Annie and Matthew's story in The New York Times, visit https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/us/ice-detains-military-wife-soldier-deployment.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Y1A.JCj-.jnQbPPlUsmKO&smid=url-share
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For children's books that encourage empathy and understanding of Mighty Girl immigrants of the past and present, visit our blog post, "A New Land, A New Life: 25 Mighty Girl Books About the Immigrant Experience" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12855
For books for children and teens about the importance of standing up for truth, decency, and justice, even in dark times, visit our blog post, "Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364
For books for tweens and teens about girls living under real-life authoritarian regimes throughout history that will help them appreciate how precious democracy truly is, visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426
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