Yesterday, the nation honored the our Armed Forces veterans’ commitment to our country. In these times of war, their sacrifice is more present in our minds than ever. So is the injustice against soldiers who are unable to focus on their mission because they are preoccupied with the fear that their spouse and family will be deported.

It is disgraceful that after facing risks in war zones, some soldiers are forced to engage in a "second battle"—as it was dubbed in a documentary on such cases— in order to keep their families from being separated.

Last October, a law was tacked on to the Homeland Security Department budget to prevent widows and orphans of soldiers from losing their right to continue seeking residency. It hardly seems possible that it took our country so long to keep the widow and children of a fallen soldier from being expelled from the country. Some thanks!

Now, Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) —who was key in the change mentioned above— has resubmitted another bill to grant residency to the undocumented spouses of soldiers. It is curious that to date, this measure has no support among Republicans, who usually provide staunch support for our troops.

In this case, common sense once again evaporates in the presence of the immigration issue, where it is more important to punish the undocumented than to provide peace of mind and security to soldiers risking their lives.

This injustice is so monumental that in some cases, only special intervention by lawmakers has prevented deportation. On other occasions, individual laws —benefiting a single case— have been enacted to avert deportation. The need for such extraordinary measures reveals an absurd legal vacuum and a cowardly lack of political will to do right by our military.