Kenosha---The money may be nice, but it comes with a price. Kenosha County, which pockets hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for housing federal prisoners in its detention center, has gotten drawn into a controversy involving a U.S. Army veteran. Miguel Perez is on track to be deported, even though he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and now suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.
The federal government wants to deport the green card holder to Mexico, because he picked up a drug conviction following his military service.
Perez, who is a Chicago resident, is being housed temporarily in Kenosha.
Kenosha County Sheriff Dave Beth told the Kenosha News over the weekend that he knows nothing about the case. But a dozen of Perez’ supporters rallied outside of the center over the weekend.
One of Perez’ pastors, Julie Contreras, is among those working to keep Perez from being deported. "He is an amazing young man who did one mistake," Contreras told WGTD in the lobby of Kenosha County's detention center Saturday. "He did his restitution to society. He has no other criminal background," she said.
While in the Kenosha facility, Perez has been undertaking what Contreras calls a “religious fasting” that apparently has earned him a trip to solitary confinement.
In the meantime, Perez’ attorneys are working to secure retroactive citizenship for him, and U. S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, is trying to get Congress to intercede.
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