The mantra is the law is the law, simplistic though it may be. But the contortions of law, starting with detention of any and every alien not lawfully present in the United States flew in the face of both long-standing practice and, well, the circumstances of Staff Sergeant Matthew Blank and his bride, Annie Ramos.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant and his wife arrived at his base in Louisiana last week, expecting to begin their life together as newlyweds.

The couple checked in at the visitor center, identification in hand, ready to complete the steps that would allow her to move into his home on the base.

Within hours, that plan had unraveled.

Ramos was brought to the United States as a toddler by her parents without documentation. While her parents’ actions might be subject to sharp criticism, she had no say in the matter, vitiating any argument that she did anything wrong. While here, she committed no crimes, putting the lie to the facile claims that this was about ridding the nation of the “worst of the worst,” to the extent anyone is foolish enough to still believe such nonsense. And then she fell in love with, and married, her soldier boy.

The detention came just days after Annie Ramos, 22, a college student with no criminal record, and Matthew Blank, 23, celebrated their marriage with family and friends. Sergeant Blank, who enlisted more than five years ago, is assigned to a brigade at Fort Polk, La. that is set to begin training at the end of the month for deployment.

“Our plan was to drive over, bring her to the office to get her military ID and activate her military spouse benefits,” such as health and life insurance, he said. “She was going to move in after the Easter weekend. Instead, she got ripped away from me.”

In 2005, a deportation order was entered against 22-month-old Ramos in absentia after her parents failed to appear for an immigration hearing. She nonetheless remained in the United States. Upon marrying Sergeant Blank, she came to his base to apply for military spouse benefits and legalize her presence based upon her marriage to a citizen.

When U.S. citizens marry undocumented immigrants, their spouses become eligible for legal permanent residency through marriage, and they can apply for citizenship three years after receiving their green card.

In this case, Blank was not merely a citizen, but a soldier.

“Prior to the Trump administration creating a mass deportation policy, somebody like her would not have been detained,’’ said Ms. Stock, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who practices immigration law and who has handled many similar cases.

She said the military would typically have allowed Ms. Ramos to get her military ID and told the couple to file their immigration papers.

Why, then, did ICE seize her?

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Ramos had been arrested “after she attempted to enter a military base.”

“She has no legal status to be in this country and was issued a final order of removal by a judge,” the statement read. “This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”

The vomit-inducing irony of the DHS statement aside, was her attempt to enter a military base as a “criminal” a threat to national security?

Ms. Ramos is a devout Christian who teaches Sunday school to children at her church, Ms. Rickling said. She was in her high school’s marching band. And she was a few months from finishing a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry.

But she was an undocumented alien. She did have a deportation order issued against her, even if she was a mere 22-months-old at the time. But as the mantra goes, the law is the law.

Ms. Stock, the expert on immigration and the military, said ICE could deport Ms. Ramos at any moment.

Was it right to arrest and detain the newly-wed Mrs. Blank while the United States asked her husband to be willing to give his life for his country? Would it be right for ICE to deport her as her husband prepared for his own deployment? After all, the law is the law.

*Tuesday Talk rules apply.