NPR

After Felony Conviction, Iraq War Veteran Faces Deportation To Mexico

Edgar Baltazar Garcia got into some serious trouble after he came home from war. Now, he faces deportation over a felony conviction unless an immigration judge decides to let him stay in the U.S.
Edgar Baltazar Garcia's wife, Jennifer Garcia, holds a photo of her husband from when he was deployed at Balad Air Base in Iraq as a turret gunner in a Humvee. He now faces deportation to Mexico over a felony conviction.

An Iraq War veteran who is not a U.S. citizen is facing deportation to Mexico over a felony conviction unless an immigration judge decides to let him stay in the United States.

Edgar Baltazar Garcia, 38, is husky and bearded, and he's physically larger than the Central American men who sit glumly beside him on a bench in immigration court in South Texas. The infantryman wore combat fatigues when he manned a .50-caliber machine gun — nicknamed Lucifer — in the turret of a Humvee when he served in Iraq 15 years ago. Today, his uniform

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