Maisa Lopes Eliaser, the wife of a U.S. Army Staff Sgt., has been released from federal immigration custody after being removed mid-flight from a deportation plane bound for Brazil. She had been detained for over a month.
Eliaser was placed on a flight Wednesday when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers aboard the aircraft received a phone call regarding her case, according to her husband, Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo. She was then given the option to continue to Brazil or return to the United States, which she chose.
"Someone made the phone call, and then she came back," Jaramillo told The Associated Press. Eliaser stated that ICE officers informed her she was "famous" due to media coverage of her situation.
DHS previously told the AP that Eliaser, 32, had been issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on April 15, after overstaying a tourist visa she used to enter the U.S. in 2019. Her husband, Jaramillo, a 43-year-old aviation operations specialist with over a decade of service, took leave from his duties training soldiers at Fort Polk, Louisiana, to care for Eliaser's 5-year-old son after her detention on July 8.
Her case gained attention earlier this month when the AP highlighted her situation as one of many military family members detained amid the Trump administration's deportation efforts. Following this reporting, a group of Congressional Democrats initiated an investigation into the deportations of military service members and their families.
Danitza James, president of the organization Repatriate Our Patriots, which supports military families facing deportation, called Eliaser's return a success. "This family's reunion is proof of what's possible when people set politics aside and do right by those who serve," James said. "We won’t stop until every military family facing detention gets the same chance at justice."
Eliaser has another appointment scheduled for Monday to attempt to reopen her case and advance her green card application. She and Jaramillo have been married since 2024, and Jaramillo is a U.S. citizen.
Although Jaramillo has been informed there will be no further issues with his wife's case, the couple remains anxious. Eliaser described her detention experience as feeling like a "nightmare" and being treated like "an animal," and she continues to struggle with fear and sleep disruption.
Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo poses with a photo of his wife, Maisa Lopes Eliaser, a Brazilian national who is being detained by ICE, before visiting her at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, La., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Joseph Vidrine)