ERO Intern goes home for Veterans Day

U.S. Army Sgt. Timothy Michael (Mike) Goodrich went to a basketball game Nov. 11 and left with a custom-built home. A surprise ceremony took place during the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers’ game at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. where Sgt. Goodrich was told he would soon receive a brand-new home for himself and his family.

The project was led by Operation Finally Home, an organization that provides mortgage free homes to America’s military heroes, as well as home building firms Miller and Smith and Newland Communities. The groundbreaking for the house begins Nov. 14 and the Goodrich family will move into their new Stafford, Virginia home in March 2017.

Sgt. Goodrich currently serves as an intern with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) in the agency’s Washington, D.C. field office. He works as an Assistant Vehicle Control Officer and assists with asset management. He believes in the mission of his work, “I feel proud to be working on all of these projects because I know I’m helping us be accountable with spending the American people’s money, dollar-for-dollar, as intended.”

Prior to joining ICE, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan where his service earned him the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medals as well as a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in combat. His wife Jacqueline Goodrich expressed what the new home meant to the family, “It’s not just a financial worry that’s off our plate; it takes our whole quality of life to another level.”