‘I just want my wife back’: Baton Rouge veteran’s spouse faces deportation
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Adrian Clouatre said his wife, Paola Clouatre, often scrolled through TikTok at night. One late evening in May, she stumbled on some immigration content. The chain of events that preceded and followed that moment led to a family in limbo.
Paola has been in the Richwood Correctional Center for nearly two months. She was initially arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the New Orleans headquarters, where Adrian said the couple went to clear up a deportation order discovered during that TikTok session.
“A video came up that showed you a website where you can see if you have a deportation order,” Adrian said. “She typed her information in, and she had one.”
Adrian said the agents arrested his wife after the couple was told to sit in the lobby following what appeared to be successful interview sessions.
“She started crying and told me to take care of the kids,” Adrian said.
Paola had come with her mother to the United States from Mexico when she was a child, but she never knew her estranged mother had missed an immigration hearing that would lead to her daughter being issued a deportation order in 2018.
Adrian said that soon after marrying last year, they looked into getting a green card and were going through the process, but the order never came up.
“She was homeless from the time she was 15,” Adrian said. “Her mother made her homeless.”
Adrian and their two kids make the drive to Monroe to see her when they can, and he said the daily calls are expensive. He said that explaining the situation to his kids has been impossible to this point.
“I just want them to have their momma,” Adrian said.
Arkansas immigration attorney Aaron Cash said arrests like these have become more common during the Trump administration.
“I have experienced it with one of my own clients,” Cash said. “I had a client arrested right in front of me.”
Cash said one major change has been requiring meetings for even routine immigration procedures, and these arrests have made immigrants leery of showing up to mandatory meetings.
“I don’t think there’s any glimmer of hope at the moment,” Cash said.
The Department of Homeland Security reports ICE arrested almost as many people in President Trump’s first 50 days as it did last year in total. In a news release, it claimed the majority were criminals. A Washington Post analysis released Thursday indicated an increasing number of arrests concerned people with no criminal record at all.
“Anybody in the country illegally, they’re on the table,” said Tom Homan, the U.S. Border Czar, in a recent national interview. “We’re going to go after them in a prioritization that makes sense.”
Just this week, Trump toured a new ICE facility in Florida called “Alligator Alcatraz.” It can hold around 5,000 people, and it will reportedly cost around $450 million each year through FEMA money.
“We’re tracking down the illegal alien criminals, we’re detaining them and then we’re throwing them the hell out of our country,” Trump said in a recent speech.
Adrian is a former Marine, and Cash said veterans have historically had favorable outcomes in these situations in the past. There were added legal protections for spouses of military and former military members. Cash said anybody who’s undocumented now faces an increased risk.
“There’s no glimmer of hope I can see for anybody who entered the country seeking asylum. Anyone who entered the Southern border without a visa, without permission,” Cash said.
Adrian said the conditions at Richwood are not habitable. He said his wife has trouble sleeping, eating and taking care of basic everyday functions because of poor conditions.
In a statement provided to Louisiana First News, an ICE spokesperson denied those claims and spoke on this case.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations arrested and detained Lisette Paula Rosas-Campos, 25, a citizen of Mexico. She was ordered removed to Mexico in absentia by an immigration judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Los Angeles, California and has a final order of removal from Feb. 12, 2018. Rosas-Campos has filed a motion with EOIR in her case concerning the order of removal issued in 2018. She will remain in ICE custody pending a resolution of her motions. As to detention conditions: Any accusations that a detainee is treated inhumanely in any way are categorically false. ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in the agency’s custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments under appropriate conditions of confinement. In general, ICE continues to review immigration detention centers nationally, monitoring the quality of life and treatment of detained individuals, including other factors relevant to the continued operation of each facility.”
Adrian said he is not worried about any blowback from his public cause to free his wife. He said he has written letters to decision-makers, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump.
“Even if she does end up getting deported, I have a plan to get her back legally,” Adrian said.
The mission for this former Marine is simple.
“I just want my wife back,” Adrian said.
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