Irish Man Detained In US For Months After Overstaying Visa By 3 Days: 'Treated Less Than Human'
An Irish tech worker and father of three from Ireland, who came to visit his girlfriend in West Virginia, US, last year, was detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more than 3 months after overstaying his visa for only three days.
Thomas was authorised to travel under a visa waiver programme that allowed tourists to stay in the country for 90 days, but he was briefly unable to fly back to Ireland in December due to a health issue. As he was three days overdue, Thomas had an encounter with police and was detained by ICE authorities, according to The Guardian.
The minor incident turned into a nightmarish experience for Thomas as he was detained by immigration authorities in three different facilities and spent 100 days behind bars without knowing why he was being held and when he would be released.
Banned From US For 10 Years
Despite agreeing to deportation, Thomas remained in ICE detention and was forced to spend part of his custody in a federal prison for those with criminal charges, even though he was being held on an immigration violation. He was eventually sent back to Ireland in March and was banned from entering the US for 10 years.
'Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it," he told The Guardian a few months after his release, describing brutal conditions during his months-long detention in the US. He said he badly tore his calf, suffered severe swelling and was having trouble walking, which is why he could not make it out of the US in December on his doctor's advice.
Encounter With Police, ICE
Thomas faced an ill-timed law enforcement encounter when he was with his girlfriend, Malone, while visiting her family in Georgia, where he suffered a mental health episode. The couple had a conflict in their hotel room, which someone overheard and called the police.
Malone said she was hoping officers would get him treatment and did not want to see him face criminal charges. However, Thomas was instead taken to jail on charges of 'falsely imprisoning" his girlfriend, which Malone denied. He was released on bond, but was picked up by US immigration authorities.
Thomas was given a two-page removal order, which said he had remained in the US three days past his authorisation. He signed a form agreeing to be deported, but he remained in the country, and his request to be deported was rejected by ICE.
'Treated Less Than Human'
Thomas said he and others only got approximately one hour of outdoor time each week. In February, he and other detainees were moved to a federal prison, shackled around their wrists, waists and legs, similar to a criminal defendant.
He said the conditions in the federal prison were worse than ICE detention. 'They were not prepared for us whatsoever," Thomas said, adding that the detainees were given old clothes, dirty mattresses and one toilet paper roll for a week.
Thomas were kept in a partially lit room, without being able to speak to his family. 'The staff didn't know why we were there and they were treating us exactly as they would treat BoP (US Bureau of Prisons) prisoners, and they told us that," he told The Guardian. 'We were treated less than human."
In mid-March, Thomas was briefly transferred again to a different Ice facility. The authorities did not explain what had changed, but two armed federal officers then escorted him on a flight back to Ireland.
Since his return, Thomas said he has had a hard time sleeping and processing what happened. Malone, his girlfriend, said she plans to move to Ireland to live with him: 'It's not an option for him to come here and I don't want to be in America anymore."
This came after several people, with valid visas, have been swept up in Trump's immigration crackdown. 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.
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