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Former Obama Spokesman Denounces Deportation Order Issued Under Obama

Jon Favreau / Getty
March 23, 2018

A former speechwriter for President Barack Obama on Friday denounced a deportation order that was issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) tweeted out a letter that she sent to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen requesting that ICE halt the possible deportation of Miguel Perez, a Mexican national and U.S. Army veteran.

"I urge you to personally review his case before forcing his deportation through without giving him time to even say goodbye to his loved ones," she wrote.

Joining in Duckworth's campaign is Obama's former White House director of speechwriting, Jon Favreau, who called the possible deportation "awful."

But the decision to deport Perez, 39, was made two years ago, when Obama was still president.

Perez was discharged from the military in 2004 after failing a drug test. In 2008, Perez was caught by an undercover police officer with a laptop case full of cocaine and ended up being sentenced to 15 years in prison.

After being selected for early release in September 2016, Perez was summoned to an immigration court and was instead transferred to an ICE facility in Wisconsin to await deportation.

This is the second time that Favreau has denounced the deportation ordered under his former boss's watch.

"This hero with 2 kids volunteered to risk his life for our country, came back with PTSD, a brain injury, and a substance abuse issue, and now our government is telling him he's not an American and needs to leave? Is that what we want?" he tweeted last month.

Perez, a Chicago resident, served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.