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Army veteran cries foul Somebody help me!
It just does not make sense to me. I am a US citizen by naturalisation, which was granted to me in 1987. Yet here I am, back in Jamaica — a deportee with next to nothing but memories to show for the six hard years I spent in the service of the United States Army. My story is important because it could happen to anybody.
I was born in Kingston on February 7, 1959. I attended the Chetolla Park Primary School before gaining admission to the Kingston College (KC) for boys via the Common Entrance Examinations.
On graduating from KC, I migrated to New York (NY) in 1975 to be with my parents. Two years after that I joined the army in order to stay out of trouble. I did three years working as a medical specialist in Germany. When the three years expired, I was granted an honourable discharge.
I re-enlisted for another three years. After that tour of duty, I was again honourably discharged. I spent the next two years at the Bronx Community College studying Liberal Arts and working simultaneously. In 1985, I re-enlisted with a view to making a career in the army. However, because of a shoulder injury sustained in a soccer game I was honourably discharged for medical reasons. So I went into the business of promotions.
Armed with the experience I had gained studying, I promoted parties, shows and humanitarian causes through the Future of Reggae Music Foundation, a non-profit organisation located in NY. I carried a gun of course. This requires no explanation. I was subsequently arrested for the illegal possession of a firearm — a charge to which I pleaded guilty and for which I was jailed for three years.
After doing my time, I was placed in immigration custody and subsequently deported with the clothes on my back and one US penny. I was deported without valid travel documents. The treatment I received while in custody was horrible. How can a US veteran with three honourable discharges be treated this way? It’s foul and in my humble opinion illegal.
US law stipulates that “a person who has broken the immigration laws and as a result has been ordered to leave the United States cannot be naturalised. However, veterans who are applying for naturalisation on the basis of their honourable military service are excepted from this prohibition and may be naturalised even though ordered to leave”.
In my case I was naturalised in 1987 before my unfortunate runin with the law. Now I’m being told that the government granted me naturalisation in error. How can this be?
I reapplied for naturalisation in 1995 but was denied due to process, ostensibly because the relevant authorities had lost my paperwork. Now they are insisting that I did not reapply for naturalisation. This issue is currently awaiting resolution in the Supreme Court.
Natural justice dictates that I should not have been removed until the matter was resolved. To add insult to injury, I have two other cases in the Federal Court — my fifth amendment right concerning the State’s failure to advise me of the legal consequences of pleading guilty and a disability claim pending with the Veteran Administration.
How can it be that I am banned for life from a country in which I have lived for 31 years and served with integrity and pride? It seems to me that justice is being denied.
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