https://archive.md/8NgIx
"A Co Antrim man lifted by US immigration police on an American street — in an
incident he compared to a kidnapping — and then sent to a detention centre has
described being deported back to Northern Ireland as “surreal”.
Despite believing he had a legal right to stay in the US due to personal
circumstances, Lee Stinton’s life was turned upside down when he was arrested
by an ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) officer.
Lee (45) had been a successful Key West hairdresser with a partner, DeVaun
Davis, whom he had planned to marry in August.
For a month, he was kept in a cramped cell in the notorious Krome Detention
Centre, which has been criticised for providing inadequate and little food,
overcrowded cells and denial of medication for detainees.
Speaking to the
Belfast Telegraph from his parents’ home in Lisburn, he sits
where he can see the door — his escape route, a safety net after what he
alleges happened at Krome.
“I had been making my own money, paying my taxes, I had my own apartment. It is
all going well. I had my new partner, a great job,” says the stylist.
“I was on my way to work one day. An ICE officer said to me: ‘You look
Mexican.’ I said: ‘I am not. I am from Northern Ireland.’
“They asked me if I had my paperwork with me. I don’t know who carried that
stuff around with them anyway; I would want to keep it somewhere safe.
“It was like I was kidnapped off of the street. I managed to get through to my
partner on the phone while they were shackling me in the streets.
“They were trying to say I ran a stop sign. I was on a bike — there was no stop
sign. I had stopped to let a car go by me. But they needed some form of
probable cause.
“The man who was arresting me looked at my phone. My screensaver is a picture
of my partner and me. He said: ‘He looks Haitian. This might be a two-for-one
deal today.’
“They brought me to the Krome Detention Centre in Miami.”"
Original at
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https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/horrors-of-trump-detention-centre-lisburn-man-tells-his-story-after-arrest-for-looking-like-a-mexican/a1990029828.html>
Via Susan ****
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
