Army veteran’s son is sent back to Jamaica after living in the U.S. his whole life

Jermaine Thomas was born on a U.S. Army base and has spent most of his life in Texas. He is now stuck in Jamaica, without a passport and chained up.

Jermaine Thomas always thought he was an American, just like everyone else. He was born on a U.S. Army base in West Germany in 1986 to a U.S. citizen father who had served for almost twenty years. He moved to the U.S. when he was young and lived in homes in Washington and Texas before settling down in Killeen, where he spent most of his adult life.

He’s now stuck in Jamaica, a place he’s never been to, and he doesn’t have citizenship from anywhere. It all began with an arrest for a crime for having a dog in his front yard.

A lot of people remember Thomas from a Supreme Court case ten years ago. The case was about whether children born abroad on U.S. military bases should immediately be citizens. The judge didn’t agree with him. He is now having real problems because of that choice.

Thomas was outside moving his things after being kicked out of his Killeen, Texas, apartment when the police came and questioned him about his dog, Miss Sassy Pants. Officers caught him for trespassing when he refused to show ID and didn’t know what crime he had committed. Because of that one charge, a small misdemeanor, things went badly for him and he ended up on a flight out of the country to be deported.

Thomas went to jail for 30 days and then was taken into ICE custody. He was moved around a lot of different jails, and he says that no one knew the details of his case. He said that a deportation officer told him that his case was “unique” and needed to be treated outside of Washington, D.C.

He says he didn’t get clear replies for months. Thomas said from a Kingston hotel room, “If I don’t get a release date or see a judge, that’s pretty much a life sentence.” “You have me locked up without a country or a plan.”

He was finally put on a plane to Jamaica. He had never been there before. Growing up there, his dad was born there but became an American citizen when he got sick and died in 2010. Jermaine never said he was a citizen of Jamaica, so he doesn’t know if he can legally be there now.

Tanya Campbell, who was also being deported on the flight, said that Jermaine was chained up and surrounded by police officers like he was a parolee. She said that the flight was a “walk of shame” for him. Even ICE officers said there were problems. One is said to have said he didn’t have the right paperwork for half of the people on board.

Jermaine is stuck in Kingston and can’t get a job or make money because the people there speak heavy Patois. He also can’t understand them. His hotel room is paid for, but he doesn’t know how long he can stay. His only real home country is one he doesn’t know if he’ll ever go back.

“How can you defend having your father risk his life for the U.S. Army and then have the country kick his child out after he dies?” Thomas asked.

His story sheds light on a problem that isn’t talked about much: kids born abroad to American military parents don’t automatically become citizens. A lot of people didn’t know about Jermaine’s legal slip-up until it was too late.

Not only does he not have a passport, but he also shows that serving your country does not ensure that your family will be safe.