How Irish Man Was Jailed In US For Months After Overstaying Visa By 3 Days

A 35-year-old Irish tech worker and father of three was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying in the United States for 3 days, per a report by the Guardian. 

He was travelling under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days. He had come to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend but was unable to fly back due to a health issue, according to medical records. He tore his calf after which a doctor ordered him not to travel for eight to 12 weeks because of a risk of blood clots.

He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in three different facilities and spent 100 days behind bars. 

"Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it," said Thomas, in an interview after his release. He was in ICE detention after Trump took office, and after the Trump administration ramped up immigration arrests, he was then shifted to a federal prison for criminal defendants even though he was held because of an immigration violation.

Thomas said he did everything he could to notify the authorities that this was happening. However, after a conflict he had with his girlfriend, someone overheard and called the police. He was charged with "falsely imprisoning" his girlfriend in the hotel room - a charge his girlfriend did not support.

Subsequently, he was released on bond. ICE authorities picked him up soon after, who then transported him to an Ice processing center in Folkston, Georgia. He signed a form on 17th December agreeing to be removed, but could not understand why ICE was not deporting him.

He said he only got an hour of outside time everyday after officers placed detainees on lockdown. He said he "didn't see the sky for weeks". After about 2 months in detention, when officers placed him along with detainees in a holding cell, he thought he was finally going home. However, along with other detainees, he was shackled around the wrists, waists and legs and transported to a federal correctional institution in Atlanta.

The conditions there were deplorable as they were kept in an area with dirty mattresses, cockroaches and mice. He was given used, ripped underwear to wear with brown stains. Some jumpsuits even had bloodstains and holes. He was freezing most of the time with only a thin blanket to protect him.

Each detainee was provided with only one toilet paper roll a week. The food was "disgusting slop" and included mysterious meat which sometimes had chunks of bone and other inedible items mixed in.

"The staff didn't know why we were there and they were treating us exactly as they would treat BoP prisoners, and they told us that," Thomas said. "We were treated less than human."

He added that medical care was never given and that he "heard people crying for doctors, saying they couldn't breathe, and staff would just say, 'Well, I'm not a doctor,' and walk away."

He had required psychiatric medicines and although he finally received it, the staff would throw the pills under his cell door, and sometimes he would have to look for the pill on the floor. He said the placement of detainees at the BoP Atlanta facility was poorly planned.

Around mid-March, he was again transferred to a different ICE facility from where he was then escorted to a flight back to Ireland. Thomas was banned from entering the US for 10 years.

"It seems completely outlandish that they would detain someone for three months because he overstayed a visa for a medical reason," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project.

Thomas said he has had a hard time sleeping and processing what happened: "I'll never forget it, and it'll be a long time before I'll be able to even start to unpack everything I went through. It still doesn't feel real. When I think about it, it's like a movie I'm watching."