A man born to an American father and a Kenyan mother has decried being deported to Jamaica as President Donald Trump's administration heightens deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Speaking to CNN, the 39-year-old Jermaine Thomas claimed that he had never set foot in Jamaica, his father's birth country, and that the deportation rendered him stateless.
Thomas was born at a US military hospital in Germany when his father was serving in the US Army and grew up in the States, never considering that he was not actually a citizen.
Now, his deportation has practically left him stateless, as he is not a Jamaican citizen, a German citizen, a US citizen, or even a Kenyan citizen, all countries that played a role in his birth. Germany did not issue him a birth certificate as he was born in a US military hospital. In Kenya, only fathers can confer citizenship to their children, and his father needed to apply for his Jamaican citizenship for him to be considered Jamaican.
Currently, Thomas remains stateless, as Germany, where he was born, did not issue him a birth certificate since he was born at a US military hospital, nor did Jamaica, where children born to Jamaican parents abroad need to apply for citizenship, nor even Kenya, where only fathers can confer citizenship to their children born out of the country.
“Who has ever even really heard of such a thing?” he quipped. “What are you supposed to do when you’re stateless?”
Reportedly, he is now living in a shelter in Kingston, Jamaica, hundreds of miles away from his friends and family, who are scared of visiting him in case they are barred from returning to the US.
"It's too hard to put in words. I just think to myself. This can't really be happening," he told CNN.
In 1986, Thomas was born to a naturalised US citizen father and a Kenyan mother in Frankfurt, Germany. Three years later, in 1989, the family moved back to the US, where he grew up until his deportation earlier this year.
He arrived in the US as a legal permanent resident, and according to a close family member, "there was never a question of whether he was American."
It was when he was in his early 20s in 2008 that he first considered that he might not be an American citizen after an arrest on drug possession charges.
He had been picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities, but his father explained his situation, leading to his release. Reportedly, his visa documents had listed him as a Jamaican citizen despite his father being a US citizen.
In 2013, he received a notice from Homeland Security, once again referring to him as a Jamaican citizen who had committed crimes in the US and thus was subject to deportation.
A court battle ensued, with the courts arguing that although children born to at least one US citizen abroad are automatically considered US citizens, Thomas did not qualify for the same, as his father had only been an American citizen for 9 years at the time, and to confer citizenship to your children, you have to live in the US for at least 10 years.
Although he was declared not a US citizen in 2016, he continued to live in the US until his arrest on February 21 for criminal trespass. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
After serving his sentence, however, he was picked up by ICE agents again and taken to a detention camp before being deported to a country he had never set foot in his entire life.
