SAN DIEGO ( Border Report ) — When Alex Murillo returned to the U.S. two years ago, he had been in what he calls “exile in Mexico” for 11 years.
After getting north of the border through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, the Gulf War veteran went back home to Phoenix where he grew up and where he had enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school.
“Now I’m in another fight, a fight for a presidential pardon,” Murillo told Border Report in September 2023.
Murillo is still waiting for that pardon, which would clear his drug conviction and restore his legal resident status. It would also create a path toward citizenship.
He is one of 25 deported veterans who have been allowed to return to the U.S. in recent years and are now petitioning the White House for a pardon.
Murillo and the others returned home under temporary parole that must be renewed every two years.