The road to citizenship for veterans and their families

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As some veterans and family members of veterans face deportation amid ongoing immigration enforcement operations, Action News looked into the pathway to citizenship for military members and veterans.

Last weekend, in Orange County, Narciso Barranco was forcibly detained by Border Patrol.

His son is a Marine veteran.

Video shows agents hitting Barranco repeatedly.

Homeland Security claims Barranco hit the agents with a weed wacker. His son refutes that.

And this week, Sae, Joon Park, a decorated Army Veteran living in Hawaii, self-deported to South Korea.

In 2009, he was convicted on drug charges and served time in prison.

After his release, Park's green card was revoked. This month, immigration officials told him to leave or be deported.

Action News talked to an immigration attorney about the pathway to citizenship for veterans and their families.

"There are programs for people that are veterans and active duty military members, they have that option for themselves but also for their relatives, for their spouses," said Sully Bryan, an immigration attorney with the law firm Wilner & O'Reilly.

Active Duty military members and veterans do qualify for citizenship and they can assist their relatives and spouses gain citizenship.

"Generally speaking, if you've been in the United States for more than a year, you have to leave and either ask forgiveness or stay out of the country for 10 years," said Bryan.

"Asking forgiveness," as Byran puts it, means applying for a waiver called 'parole in place.'

That means a qualifying resident needs to sponsor you.

"People still have to qualify. So one thing about parole in place is it's discretionary. The government can say no," said Bryan.

In the case of Barranco, his son says he is undocumented and has been living in the U.S. since the 1990s but has no criminal record.

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