Who is Jermaine Thomas? Texas man born on US military base to American soldier deported to Jamaica

Jermaine Thomas was born in 1986 whereas his father, a Jamaican immigrant who later grew to become a US citizen, was serving within the army. His mom, a Kenyan citizen on the time, and his father raised him whereas shifting between bases.

Jermaine Thomas moved to Florida

After his mother and father divorced, Thomas moved to Florida at age 11 to reside together with his father, who had retired. His father died in 2010 from kidney failure, not lengthy after Thomas arrived.

Following his father’s loss of life, Thomas struggled. He spent years in Texas, typically homeless and infrequently in jail, in keeping with The Chronicle.

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The actual date of his deportation order is unclear. However, court docket information from 2015 present that his case reached the US Supreme Court. The Justice Department argued that being born on a US Army base in Germany didn’t mechanically make him a citizen. The Court sided with the DOJ, agreeing with a decrease court docket’s choice and denying Thomas’s request to overview the deportation order. It dominated that “his father didn’t meet the bodily presence requirement of the statute in drive on the time of Thomas’s beginning.”

The court docket additionally cited Thomas’s felony historical past, together with a home violence conviction and two “crimes involving ethical turpitude.”

Thomas, who held no official citizenship from the US, Germany, or Jamaica, was thought of stateless. He continued dwelling within the US, most not too long ago in Killeen, Texas.

Jermaine Thomas deportation course of started…

According to The Chronicle, the deportation course of started after he was evicted from his house. While shifting out, he was arrested for trespassing, a misdemeanor in Texas. A court-appointed lawyer informed him he might spend almost a yr in jail ready for trial. Having misplaced his job, Thomas agreed to a launch deal. Instead of being freed, he was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility close to Houston, the place he was held for 2 and a half months.

Now in Kingston, Thomas resides in a resort. He informed The Chronicle he doesn’t know who’s paying for the room — the US authorities or Jamaican authorities — or how lengthy he will probably be allowed to remain. He additionally mentioned he’s unsure whether or not he’s legally permitted to work or stay in Jamaica.

“If you’re within the U.S. Army, and the Army deploys you someplace, and also you’ve obtained to have your baby over there, and your baby makes a mistake after you go away, and you place your life on the road for this nation, are you going to be okay with them simply kicking your baby in another country?” Thomas informed The Chronicle.