“My Husband Self-Deported So He Could Be Free”

As ICE raids intensify, a New Jersey woman’s heartbreak spotlights a growing wave of mixed-status couples choosing exile over the trauma of detention.

WASHINGTON — Julie Moreno came home alone.

The U.S. citizen from New Jersey landed at Newark Airport this week after accompanying her husband, Nef, across the border to Mexico — a journey that marked the end of their shared life under the same roof, and the beginning of a long separation neither of them wanted but both felt was the only way to live free from fear.