BATON ROUGE, LA (KPEL) —A Louisiana father and Marine Corps veteran is navigating being a single parent after his wife was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

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Mother Separated From Her 2-Year-Old and Newborn Baby

Adrian Clouatre and his wife Paola have a 2-year-old son and a 3-month-old daughter together.

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Clouatre is not only dealing with being a single parent unexpectedly, but also the shock of having his wife detained when he says they were trying to do the right thing.

According to the Associated Press, his wife, Paola, 25, is a Mexican national who came to the United States over a decade ago with her mother. Unfortunately, Paola and her mother were estranged for several years, and during that time her mother failed to appear in court for an immigration hearing.

Adrian and Paola were married in 2024 and shortly after began the process of obtaining her green card. However, they were made aware that not only did her mother not appear in court, but Paola also had a deportation order issued by ICE back in 2018.

On May 27th, they met U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff with the intention of reopening her case; however, once they were questioned about the deportation order, they were asked to wait for paperwork to set up a follow-up appointment.

However, it wasn't long before Paola was being handcuffed and forced to hand over her wedding ring.

A motion has been filed for a California-based judge to reopen the case on Paola's deportation order.

For now, Adrian has to make an eight-hour round trip from Baton Rouge to an ICE facility in Monroe to see his wife as often as he can.

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