Latest news with #JermaineThomas
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ice arrests of US military veterans and their relatives are on the rise: ‘a country that I fought for'
The son of an American citizen and military veteran – but who has no citizenship to any country – was deported from the US to Jamaica in late May. Jermaine Thomas's deportation, recently reported on by the Austin Chronicle, is one of a growing number of immigration cases involving military service members' relatives or even veterans themselves who have been ensnared in the Trump administration's mass deportation program. As the Chronicle reported, Thomas was born on a US army base in Germany to an American citizen father, who was originally born in Jamaica and is now dead. Thomas does not have US, German or Jamaican citizenship – but Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency deported him anyway to Jamaica, a country in which he had never stepped foot. Thomas had spent two-and-a-half months incarcerated while waiting for an update on his case. He was previously at the center of a case brought before the US supreme court regarding his unique legal status. The federal government argued that Thomas – who had previously received a deportation order – was not a citizen simply because he was born on a US army base, and it used prior criminal convictions to buttress the case against him. He petitioned for a review of the order, but the supreme court denied him, finding his father 'did not meet the physical presence requirement of the [law] in force at the time of Thomas's birth'. From Jamaica, Thomas told the Chronicle: 'If you're in the US army, and the army deploys you somewhere, and you've gotta have your child over there – and your child makes a mistake after you pass away – and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be OK with them just kicking your child out of the country?' He added, in reference to his father: 'It was just Memorial Day [in late May]. Y'all are disrespecting his service and his legacy.' In recent months, US military veterans' family members have been increasingly detained by immigration officials, as the administration continues pressing for mass deportations. A US marine veteran, during an interview on CNN, said he felt 'betrayed' after immigration officials beat and arrested his father at a landscaping job. The arrested man had moved to the US from Mexico in the 1990s without documentation but was detained by Ice agents this month while doing landscaping work at a restaurant in Santa Ana, California. In another recent case, the wife of another Marine Corps veteran was detained by Ice despite still breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter. According to the Associated Press, the veteran's wife had been going through a process to obtain legal residency. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to detain and deport people nationwide. During a May meeting, White House officials pressed Ice to increase its daily arrests to at least 3,000 people daily. That would result in 1 million people being arrested annually by Ice. Following the tense meeting, Ice officials have increased their enforcement operations, including by detaining an increasing number of people with no criminal record. Being undocumented is a civil infraction – not a crime. According to a recent Guardian analysis, as of mid-June, Ice data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention arrested by the agency despite no record of them being charged with or convicted of a crime. That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in Ice detention immediately preceding the start of Trump's second term. In March, Ice officials arrested the daughter of a US veteran who had been fighting a legal battle regarding her status. Alma Bowman, 58, was taken into custody by Ice during a check-in at the Atlanta field office, despite her having lived in the US since she was 10 years old. Bowman was born in the Philippines during the Vietnam war, to a US navy service member from Illinois stationed there. She had lived in Georgia for almost 50 years. Her permanent residency was revoked following a minor criminal conviction from 20 years ago, leading her to continue a legal battle to obtain citizenship in the US. Previously, Bowman was detained by Ice at a troubled facility in Georgia, where non-consensual gynecological procedures were allegedly performed on detained women. In 2020, she had been a key witness for attorneys and journalists regarding the controversy. According to an interview with The Intercept from that year, Bowman said she had always thought she was a US citizen. In another recent case, a US army veteran and green-card holder left on his own to South Korea. His deportation order was due to charges related to drug possession and an issue with drug addiction after being wounded in combat in the 1980s, for which he earned the prestigious Purple Heart citation. 'I can't believe this is happening in America,' Sae Joon Park, who had held legal permanent residency, told National Public Radio. 'That blows me away – like, [it is] a country that I fought for.'
The Guardian
20 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ice arrests of US military veterans and their relatives are on the rise: ‘a country that I fought for'
The son of an American citizen and military veteran – but who has no citizenship to any country – was deported from the US to Jamaica in late May. Jermaine Thomas's deportation, recently reported on by the Austin Chronicle, is one of a growing number of immigration cases involving military service members' relatives or even veterans themselves who have been ensnared in the Trump administration's mass deportation program. As the Chronicle reported, Thomas was born on a US army base in Germany to an American citizen father, who was originally born in Jamaica and is now dead. Thomas does not have US, German or Jamaican citizenship – but Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency deported him anyway to Jamaica, a country in which he had never stepped foot. Thomas had spent two-and-a-half months incarcerated while waiting for an update on his case. He was previously at the center of a case brought before the US supreme court regarding his unique legal status. The federal government argued that Thomas – who had previously received a deportation order – was not a citizen simply because he was born on a US army base, and it used prior criminal convictions to buttress the case against him. He petitioned for a review of the order, but the supreme court denied him, finding his father 'did not meet the physical presence requirement of the [law] in force at the time of Thomas's birth'. From Jamaica, Thomas told the Chronicle: 'If you're in the US army, and the army deploys you somewhere, and you've gotta have your child over there – and your child makes a mistake after you pass away – and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be OK with them just kicking your child out of the country?' He added, in reference to his father: 'It was just Memorial Day [in late May]. Y'all are disrespecting his service and his legacy.' In recent months, US military veterans' family members have been increasingly detained by immigration officials, as the administration continues pressing for mass deportations. A US marine veteran, during an interview on CNN, said he felt 'betrayed' after immigration officials beat and arrested his father at a landscaping job. The arrested man had moved to the US from Mexico in the 1990s without documentation but was detained by Ice agents this month while doing landscaping work at a restaurant in Santa Ana, California. In another recent case, the wife of another Marine Corps veteran was detained by Ice despite still breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter. According to the Associated Press, the veteran's wife had been going through a process to obtain legal residency. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to detain and deport people nationwide. During a May meeting, White House officials pressed Ice to increase its daily arrests to at least 3,000 people daily. That would result in 1 million people being arrested annually by Ice. Following the tense meeting, Ice officials have increased their enforcement operations, including by detaining an increasing number of people with no criminal record. Being undocumented is a civil infraction – not a crime. According to a recent Guardian analysis, as of mid-June, Ice data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention arrested by the agency despite no record of them being charged with or convicted of a crime. That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in Ice detention immediately preceding the start of Trump's second term. In March, Ice officials arrested the daughter of a US veteran who had been fighting a legal battle regarding her status. Alma Bowman, 58, was taken into custody by Ice during a check-in at the Atlanta field office, despite her having lived in the US since she was 10 years old. Bowman was born in the Philippines during the Vietnam war, to a US navy service member from Illinois stationed there. She had lived in Georgia for almost 50 years. Her permanent residency was revoked following a minor criminal conviction from 20 years ago, leading her to continue a legal battle to obtain citizenship in the US. Previously, Bowman was detained by Ice at a troubled facility in Georgia, where non-consensual gynecological procedures were allegedly performed on detained women. In 2020, she had been a key witness for attorneys and journalists regarding the controversy. According to an interview with The Intercept from that year, Bowman said she had always thought she was a US citizen. In another recent case, a US army veteran and green-card holder left on his own to South Korea. His deportation order was due to charges related to drug possession and an issue with drug addiction after being wounded in combat in the 1980s, for which he earned the prestigious Purple Heart citation. 'I can't believe this is happening in America,' Sae Joon Park, who had held legal permanent residency, told National Public Radio. 'That blows me away – like, [it is] a country that I fought for.'
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ice arrests of US military veterans and their relatives are on the rise: ‘a country that I fought for'
The son of an American citizen and military veteran – but who has no citizenship to any country – was deported from the US to Jamaica in late May. Jermaine Thomas's deportation, recently reported on by the Austin Chronicle, is one of a growing number of immigration cases involving military service members' relatives or even veterans themselves who have been ensnared in the Trump administration's mass deportation program. As the Chronicle reported, Thomas was born on a US army base in Germany to an American citizen father, who was originally born in Jamaica and is now dead. Thomas does not have US, German or Jamaican citizenship – but Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency deported him anyway to Jamaica, a country in which he had never stepped foot. Thomas had spent two-and-a-half months incarcerated while waiting for an update on his case. He was previously at the center of a case brought before the US supreme court regarding his unique legal status. The federal government argued that Thomas – who had previously received a deportation order – was not a citizen simply because he was born on a US army base, and it used prior criminal convictions to buttress the case against him. He petitioned for a review of the order, but the supreme court denied him, finding his father 'did not meet the physical presence requirement of the [law] in force at the time of Thomas's birth'. From Jamaica, Thomas told the Chronicle: 'If you're in the US army, and the army deploys you somewhere, and you've gotta have your child over there – and your child makes a mistake after you pass away – and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be OK with them just kicking your child out of the country?' He added, in reference to his father: 'It was just Memorial Day [in late May]. Y'all are disrespecting his service and his legacy.' In recent months, US military veterans' family members have been increasingly detained by immigration officials, as the administration continues pressing for mass deportations. A US marine veteran, during an interview on CNN, said he felt 'betrayed' after immigration officials beat and arrested his father at a landscaping job. The arrested man had moved to the US from Mexico in the 1990s without documentation but was detained by Ice agents this month while doing landscaping work at a restaurant in Santa Ana, California. In another recent case, the wife of another Marine Corps veteran was detained by Ice despite still breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter. According to the Associated Press, the veteran's wife had been going through a process to obtain legal residency. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to detain and deport people nationwide. During a May meeting, White House officials pressed Ice to increase its daily arrests to at least 3,000 people daily. That would result in 1 million people being arrested annually by Ice. Following the tense meeting, Ice officials have increased their enforcement operations, including by detaining an increasing number of people with no criminal record. Being undocumented is a civil infraction – not a crime. According to a recent Guardian analysis, as of mid-June, Ice data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention arrested by the agency despite no record of them being charged with or convicted of a crime. That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in Ice detention immediately preceding the start of Trump's second term. In March, Ice officials arrested the daughter of a US veteran who had been fighting a legal battle regarding her status. Alma Bowman, 58, was taken into custody by Ice during a check-in at the Atlanta field office, despite her having lived in the US since she was 10 years old. Bowman was born in the Philippines during the Vietnam war, to a US navy service member from Illinois stationed there. She had lived in Georgia for almost 50 years. Her permanent residency was revoked following a minor criminal conviction from 20 years ago, leading her to continue a legal battle to obtain citizenship in the US. Previously, Bowman was detained by Ice at a troubled facility in Georgia, where non-consensual gynecological procedures were allegedly performed on detained women. In 2020, she had been a key witness for attorneys and journalists regarding the controversy. According to an interview with The Intercept from that year, Bowman said she had always thought she was a US citizen. In another recent case, a US army veteran and green-card holder left on his own to South Korea. His deportation order was due to charges related to drug possession and an issue with drug addiction after being wounded in combat in the 1980s, for which he earned the prestigious Purple Heart citation. 'I can't believe this is happening in America,' Sae Joon Park, who had held legal permanent residency, told National Public Radio. 'That blows me away – like, [it is] a country that I fought for.'
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Who is Jermaine Thomas? Texas man born on US army base to American soldier deported to Jamaica
A man born on a US Army base in Germany to a military family has been deported to Jamaica, a country he has never visited in, as reported by Austin Chronicle. Jermaine Thomas was born in 1986 while his father, a Jamaican immigrant who later became a US citizen, was serving in the military.(No Jumper/ Facebook) Jermaine Thomas was born in 1986 while his father, a Jamaican immigrant who later became a US citizen, was serving in the military. His mother, a Kenyan citizen at the time, and his father raised him while moving between bases. After his parents divorced, Thomas moved to Florida at age 11 to live with his father, who had retired. His father died in 2010 from kidney failure, not long after Thomas arrived. Following his father's death, Thomas struggled. He spent years in Texas, sometimes homeless and often in jail, according to The Chronicle. Also Read: Zohran Mamdani 'needs to be deported': Republicans over NYC mayoral candidate's anti-ICE stance The exact date of his deportation order is unclear. However, court records from 2015 show that his case reached the US Supreme Court. The Justice Department argued that being born on a US Army base in Germany did not automatically make him a citizen. The Court sided with the DOJ, agreeing with a lower court's decision and denying Thomas's request to review the deportation order. It ruled that 'his father did not meet the physical presence requirement of the statute in force at the time of Thomas's birth.' The court also cited Thomas's criminal history, including a domestic violence conviction and two 'crimes involving moral turpitude.' Thomas, who held no official citizenship from the US, Germany, or Jamaica, was considered stateless. He continued living in the US, most recently in Killeen, Texas. Jermaine Thomas deportation process began… According to The Chronicle, the deportation process began after he was evicted from his apartment. While moving out, he was arrested for trespassing, a misdemeanor in Texas. A court-appointed lawyer told him he could spend nearly a year in jail waiting for trial. Having lost his job, Thomas agreed to a release deal. Instead of being freed, he was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility near Houston, where he was held for two and a half months. Now in Kingston, Thomas is living in a hotel. He told The Chronicle he doesn't know who is paying for the room — the US government or Jamaican authorities — or how long he will be allowed to stay. He also said he is uncertain whether he's legally permitted to work or remain in Jamaica. 'If you're in the U.S. Army, and the Army deploys you somewhere, and you've got to have your child over there, and your child makes a mistake after you pass away, and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be okay with them just kicking your child out of the country?' Thomas told The Chronicle.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
US soldier's son, born on Army base in Germany, is deported to Jamaica
(KTLA) — A man born to an active-duty member of the United States military on an Army base in Germany in 1986 before coming to the states as a child was deported last week to Jamaica, a country he's never been to, according to a report by The Austin Chronicle. Jermaine Thomas, whose Jamaican-born dad became a U.S. citizen during his 18-year military career, spent much of his early life moving from base to base with his father and mother, the latter a citizen of Kenya at the time of his birth. At 11 years old, after his parents' divorce and his mother's second marriage to another soldier, he went to live with his father, who had since retired, in Florida. Unfortunately, his father passed away in 2010 from kidney failure shortly after Thomas had arrived. Much of his life after that, The Chronicle reported, was spent in Texas, homeless and in and out of jail. It's unclear when exactly Thomas was first ordered to leave the country, but court records from 2015 show a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, in which the U.S. Department of Justice argued that he was not a citizen simply because he was born on a U.S. Army base in Germany. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the DOJ, upholding the U.S. Court of Appeals decision and denied Thomas' petition for a review of the deportation order, saying in part that 'his father did not meet the physical presence requirement of the statute in force at the time of Thomas's birth.' The court also noted Thomas' prior criminal convictions, one for domestic violence and two 'crimes involving moral turpitude.' Without U.S., German or Jamaican citizenship, Thomas was stateless, though he remained in the states, most recently living in Killeen, a city about an hour north of Austin. Army vet, Purple Heart recipient, self-deports after 48 years in U.S. He told The Chronicle that deportation to Jamaica started with an eviction from his apartment. While moving his belongings out of the apartment, he was arrested by local police on suspicion of trespassing, a misdemeanor in Texas. Told by a court-appointed lawyer that he'd likely stay in jail for the better part of a year while waiting for a trial, Thomas, who had lost his job while in lockup, signed a release agreement with certain conditions, but instead of being released from Bell County Jail, he was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention camp just north of Houston, where he was detained for two and a half months. Now in Kingston, he told The Chronicle he's living in a hotel, though he's unsure who is paying for it, the U.S. or Jamaican government, and does not know how long he'll be able to stay there. Unsure how to get a job or if he's even allowed, Thomas added that he's unsure if it's even legal for him to be in the country at all. 'If you're in the U.S. Army, and the Army deploys you somewhere, and you've got to have your child over there, and your child makes a mistake after you pass away, and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be okay with them just kicking your child out of the country?' Thomas said in a phone call with the outlet's reporter. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to The Chronicle's request for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
