PARRIS ISLAND, South Carolina – Pvt. Ramirez Garcia considered quitting many times during his training at Marine Corps Depot Parris Island.
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“I’m glad I made it,” said the newly graduated Marine, who is on condition of anonymity as a member of the military. “I’m happy that I was able to make it until today,” he said on Friday.
But two important people were absent on this historic day: my mother and father. According to Ramirez Garcia’s sister Emily, their parents are in the US on work visas and were too scared to attend the event when they heard that ICE was doing security checks.
“They were coming. It was going to be a big deal. We were going to the beach after that. All those plans had to go out the window because they said ICE was going to be here,” said Emily Ramirez, who added that she was “incredibly proud” of her sister. “I can’t believe you’re a Marine.”
NBC News did not see ICE officials or agents at Friday’s graduation. Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough, who is the public affairs officer at the base, said that due to security regulations, he could not confirm which agency the government officials assisting with security checks were from. He said government officials have helped with security in other past events.
Earlier this week, NBC News reported that ICE would be suspended outside of Marine Corps graduation ceremonies on Thursday and Friday to check on undocumented family members. The news disrupted family plans, sparked a national reaction and brought out protesters, including Marine veterans.
“Undocumented people are not trying to make a name for themselves. We’ve never had this problem,” said Marine veteran Dayle Soto, one of about 17 protesters who lined the border to protest the presence of government officials before graduation.
Soto, 30, trained at Parris Island and graduated in 2016. Her husband was also trained there and is the child of immigrants. He called the presence of federal agents “a real slap in the face, and it looks like a real show — what does that say to our Marines?”
Prior to the graduation ceremony, the site had issued a warning to families that law enforcement personnel would be on site “to conduct enhanced screening and legal immigration inquiries.”
Due to the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran, the Marine Corps announced that it is strengthening security, requiring everyone – including all passengers in vehicles entering the area, not just drivers, as is done when security measures are relaxed – to present REAL IDs, US passports or US birth certificates to access any sites.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security previously told NBC News that any suggestion that ICE would detain people is false. “ICE will be detained during basic training at Parris Island, SC,” the spokesperson said.
However, the announcement caused a backlash, and the foundation softened its warning to visitors, saying only that “federal law enforcement personnel will be present at the installation sites.”
But by then, the news had spread and fear and anxiety among the families of the immigrants and their lawyers.
Currently, an estimated 17% of active-duty service members have immigrant parents and 12% have immigrant family members, according to an analysis of Census data by the Vera Institute of Justice, a group focused on ending mass incarceration, including for immigrants.
As of February 2024, about 40,000 foreign nationals are in the military and about 115,000 foreign nationals are US veterans, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
Marines are mostly recruited from immigrant families, and their pitch often involves telling potential recruits that joining would help them with family members’ immigration status, attorneys and advocates say.
“It’s just scary that we’re depriving families of the opportunity to celebrate with their soldier, with their family,” said Aimee Deverall, an immigration attorney and chair of the Low Country Immigration Coalition. He said he has “dozens” of families he helps who have a registered son or daughter.
Close relatives of active duty personnel and veterans – parents, unmarried children and spouses – who are undocumented are eligible for “current parole,” which gives them temporary relief from deportation and allows them to apply for a green card and work permit.
Right now, there is almost a two-year wait for amnesty, leaving family members at risk amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, Deverall said.
On Thursday, as part of the presentations and pre-graduation ceremonies, 16 recruits from 11 countries became US citizens in a naturalization ceremony.
Each of them was called by name, and their original country was announced, which took the breath away of those present.
You missed graduation
Giovanni Castañeda Nieto, 18, was happy as he was surrounded by his family Thursday during a pre-graduation ceremony for Marines and their relatives.
But he had to share this moment with his mother through a video on his phone.
Maybelline Nieto Perla, her cousin, told Noticias Telemundo that the employer’s mother did not go because she was worried about “arrival”. The family “can’t just risk everything because they are already in the process” of getting legal status, Nieto Perla said.
The family’s pride in having their first US Marine was mixed with his mother’s sadness at not being able to attend his graduation.
“She told us she was going to cry when we left, she cried,” said Nieto Perla, talking about her mother.
Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney and retired lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve, said checking on the status of family members at a graduation ceremony is “immoral.”
“Parents have a strong influence on whether a person is willing to serve,” he said. Getting parents on board with an individual’s registration is a big emphasis in Pentagon stuff, especially for Hispanic families, Stock said.
“I’m talking about citizens born here whose parents are undocumented, that’s a big part of the military, especially the Marine Corps,” he said.
On Parris Island, Yarbrough explained, undocumented immigrants have never been allowed to enter. Graduates must have family members bring the necessary documents to attend the graduation ceremony and family day.
Basic access policies include instructions that foreign visitors must have a “permanent worker sponsor” and must fill out a government form requesting Social Security, passport and alien numbers, among other things.
On Thursday and Friday, 17 foreign nationals came to graduate, Yarbrough said, and all had legal entry status.
Stock said there have been incidents of families being arrested without documents trying to enter military ports. But when it comes to checks on Parris Island, security is “a red herring,” he said.
“Immigration has nothing to do with security. You can be just as dangerous if you’re a US citizen going into office. Most of the threat right now comes from embedded US-born citizens,” Stock said.
The foundation should have a security plan, he added, “but it shouldn’t be based on a person’s immigration status.”
At the Morning Colors Ceremony on Friday, when the navy bell rang eight times and the American flag was raised, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Williams, the commanding general of the base and east recruitment area, called for applause for the parents and families who attended the graduation ceremony and related events.
“Thank you for trusting us with your great wealth,” said Williams. “We understand how important it is.”
