<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/15/irish-tourist-ice-detention>
"Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to
West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he
had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver
program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.
He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly
due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue
to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.
From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish
ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately
spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was
being held – or when he’d get out.
“Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it,” said Thomas, in a
recent interview from his home in Ireland, a few months after his release.
Thomas asked to be identified by a nickname out of fear of facing further
consequences with US immigration authorities.
Despite immediately agreeing to deportation when he was first arrested, Thomas
remained in Ice detention after Donald Trump took office and dramatically
ramped up immigration arrests. Amid increased overcrowding in detention, Thomas
was forced to spend part of his time in custody in a federal prison for
criminal defendants, even though he was being held on an immigration violation.
Thomas was sent back to Ireland in March and was told he was banned from
entering the US for 10 years.
Thomas’s ordeal follows a rise in reports of tourists and visitors with valid
visas being detained by Ice, including from Australia, Germany, Canada and the
UK. In April, an Irish woman who is a US green card holder was also detained by
Ice for 17 days due to a nearly two-decade-old criminal record.
The arrests appear to be part of a broader crackdown by the Trump
administration, which has pushed to deport students with alleged ties to
pro-Palestinian protests; sent detainees to Guantánamo Bay and an El Salvador
prison without presenting evidence of criminality; deported people to South
Sudan, a war-torn country where the deportees had no ties; and escalated
large-scale, militarized raids across the US."
Via Janet Logan.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
