Born at a US military base, deported to a country he’s never been: A stateless man’s plight

Thomas, who has struggled with schizoaffective disorder and a history of homelessness and criminal convictions, was shackled and forcibly removed from the US following an arrest for criminal trespass. The Department of Homeland Security labeled him a “violent, criminal illegal alien from Jamaica,” despite no formal citizenship in any country. His attempts to apply for Jamaican citizenship through his deceased father have been met with bureaucratic delays, while the US has refused to recognise his birth on a military base as grounds for citizenship.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, in a US military hospital in 1986, Thomas returned to the US with his family in 1989 and grew up in Florida, Virginia, and Texas. His father, who served more than a decade in the US Army, became a naturalised citizen in 1984. A visa form from that time mistakenly listed Thomas as Jamaican, a designation that has haunted him ever since.

After serving time for various offenses in Texas, Thomas was detained by ICE and ultimately deported, despite a previous legal battle that went to the US Supreme Court. In 2015, a federal appeals court ruled that US military bases overseas do not count as US soil under the 14th Amendment. His case, supported by members of Congress, was not taken up by the Supreme Court.

Now in Kingston, Thomas says he’s out of psychiatric medication, unable to work legally, and struggling to survive in a homeless shelter. “I’m always hungry, completely exhausted, on constant alert,” he told CNN. “It’s just not the place for me. I don’t belong here.”

Experts like Betsy Fisher, an immigration lawyer and refugee law lecturer, told CNN that Thomas’s situation is a textbook case of statelessness and one that exposes the gaps in US immigration and nationality law. “His situation falls kind of perfectly in these cracks between ways to be a US citizen,” she said.

As his relatives fear visiting him due to potential deportation risks, Thomas’s case serves as a chilling reminder that even those born under the American flag can find themselves abandoned by the very country they believed was home.

“I just want to know when I’m going home,” he said.