(AURORA, COLORADO, UNITED STATES) Iraq War veteran Jose Barco, a 40-year-old Purple Heart recipient who came to the United States as a child, was deported to Mexico in November 2025 after spending nine months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. His removal closes a case that has raised sharp questions about how the country treats noncitizen service members with serious criminal records.
Background and military service
Barco’s story spans several countries and decades. Born in Venezuela to Cuban parents, he immigrated to the United States when he was 4 years old. He grew up in the country he later served in uniform, eventually joining the Army and completing two tours in Iraq.
During that service he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart, a decoration given to U.S. military personnel injured or killed in action. For many veterans and immigrant advocates, that detail makes his final removal especially painful.
Criminal conviction and sentencing
The chapter that led to his deportation began long after he left the battlefield. In 2009, Barco was convicted in southern Colorado of attempted murder, a serious felony that altered his life trajectory.
- A state court originally sentenced him to 52 years in prison.
- Under U.S. immigration law, violent felony convictions like attempted murder typically count as “aggravated felonies,” a classification that often renders a noncitizen deportable and severely limits relief options in immigration court.
Parole, transfer to ICE custody, and detention transfers
Barco did not serve the full 52-year sentence. After 15 years in the Colorado State Penitentiary, he gained parole for good behavior and for work he performed inside the prison, where he reportedly taught English and mathematics to other inmates.
- His release date, January 21, 2025, did not result in freedom. Federal immigration officers were waiting outside the prison gates.
- They took him into custody and transferred him to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora, Colorado — a Denver-area city that has become a central hub for immigration detention in the region.
From that day, Barco entered a new form of confinement. Over the next several months officials moved him through a series of at least five different detention centers in Colorado and Texas. Such transfers are common in the immigration system and often make it difficult for families to keep track of detained loved ones.
Family impact
Barco’s wife, Tia Barco, had already gone years without seeing him in person; she had last visited him in prison in 2017. Once he entered ICE custody, that separation continued.
- She was able to speak with him by tablet when he was held in Texas.
- The constant moves and lack of a clear deportation date added further strain to an already long separation.
Failed deportation to Venezuela and return to the U.S.
His first removal attempt did not go as planned. In April 2025, ICE placed Barco on a deportation flight with a group of Venezuelan nationals being sent back to their country of birth. The plane stopped in Honduras en route to Venezuela. There, Venezuelan officials reportedly refused to receive him.
- Venezuelan authorities claimed his Venezuelan birth certificate looked like a forgery and would not allow him to enter.
- That left Barco in legal limbo: he had a final order of removal from the United States, but his country of birth would not accept him.
After the failed attempt, ICE flew him back to the United States. He was then taken to the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas, where he remained while immigration officials evaluated their next move.
- According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, such situations are rare but not unheard of, especially for people with complicated histories or disputed documents.
- U.S. law requires the government to attempt removal to a country that will accept the person, which can lead to alternate destinations if the first option fails.
Final removal to Mexico
In Barco’s case, the ultimate destination became Mexico, even though he is not Mexican.
- In November 2025, he was deported to Nogales, Mexico, a border city that regularly receives people removed from the United States.
- The government can, in some cases, remove a person to a different country if that country agrees, not only to the country of birth.
- Officials have not publicly explained why Mexico accepted Barco or what his legal status there will be.
What is clear from court proceedings is that his 2009 attempted murder conviction remained the central legal reason for his removal.
How criminal and immigration systems intersect
For immigration authorities, the case exemplifies how criminal and immigration systems interlock. Once Barco completed his state sentence and was handed to federal custody, his veteran status did not erase the underlying conviction.
- In deportation proceedings, immigration judges often have very limited room to consider military service when the person has an aggravated felony on their record.
- The legal standards focus primarily on the crime and the immigration status, not on the person’s past service or awards.
The Department of Homeland Security (which oversees ICE) states on its official website that it prioritizes enforcement against people with serious criminal histories and threats to public safety. In general, noncitizen veterans can still face removal if convicted of certain crimes — a point emphasized in past government reviews of how veterans move through the immigration system.
- Official guidance, available through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, notes that officers may consider military service as a factor, but it does not provide automatic protection from deportation.
Important takeaway: Military service and decorations do not guarantee immunity from deportation when an aggravated felony is involved.
Broader implications and debates
For families like the Barcos, these legal complexities translate into years of separation and uncertainty. Tia watched her husband move through prison, then immigration detention, and finally across international borders without any assurance he would return to the United States.
Veterans’ advocates have long warned that noncitizen service members can face this exact problem if they do not secure U.S. citizenship while serving. Many assume military service automatically confers citizenship, but naturalization requires specific steps:
- File the required forms.
- Pass background checks.
- Complete interviews and other naturalization procedures.
When those steps are not completed, a later serious criminal conviction can place a decorated veteran in removal proceedings — as Barco’s case demonstrates.
Supporters of strict enforcement point to the gravity of an attempted murder conviction and argue public safety must come first, regardless of past service. Others see a man who arrived in the U.S. as a young child, served in war, earned the Purple Heart, and was then exiled after serving a long prison sentence for a crime in his twenties.
The law resolved his case in one direction, but the debate over what the country owes people like him remains unresolved.
This Article in a Nutshell
Jose Barco, a Venezuelan-born Purple Heart recipient raised in the U.S., was deported to Mexico in November 2025 after nine months in ICE custody. Convicted of attempted murder in 2009 and originally sentenced to 52 years, he served 15 before parole in January 2025, when federal immigration officers took him into custody. A removal attempt to Venezuela failed in April; officials ultimately deported him to Nogales. The case underscores how aggravated-felony convictions can override military service in deportation decisions, prompting debate over veterans’ treatment and immigration policy.
