Army Staff Sergeant’s Wife, Freed After Midflight Deportation Reversal, Speaks Out

Maisa Lopes Eliaser, a 32-year-old Brazilian national with no criminal record, was detained by ICE partway through a routine green card interview in Montgomery, Alabama, on July 8, 2026. Her husband, Army Staff Sergeant Alexis Jaramillo, an aviation operations specialist with 11 years of service, cared for their five-year-old son alone while remaining on active duty. Eliaser was already aboard a deportation flight to Brazil when ICE officers took a call midflight and asked whether she wanted to turn back; she stayed on the plane as it landed in Brazil to unload other deportees, then flew back to Louisiana, and was released after five weeks in detention. Speaking in Spanish at an August 14 press conference, she said she is glad to be home but still fears that anyone she does not recognize might be ICE, and remains anxious about a coming check-in appointment. Danitza James of Repatriate Our Patriots and Ashley DeAzevedo of American Families United said at least 51 military-connected relatives have been detained since January 2025 and that commanders have no standard procedure for supporting the soldiers affected.