LOGANVILLE, Georgia – A Liberian-born man detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Georgia was positioned in solitary confinement after protesting a flooded cell that he stated posed a severe risk to his digital prosthetic legs.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
Rodney Taylor, 46, a double amputee, was arrested by ICE brokers on January 15 at his house in Loganville, Georgia. He has been in detention on the Stewart Detention Middle ever since, awaiting an immigration choose’s resolution on whether or not he can be deported to Liberia or allowed to stay in the USA.
Taylor, who was dropped at the U.S. by his mom on the age of two for medical therapy, says a previous authorized concern might now price him the whole lot. His detention stems from a housebreaking conviction at age 16—a conviction he believed had been resolved when the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted him a pardon in 2010.
“I believed I had a pardon from the state. It was all behind me prior to now. They introduced it up, and it was surprising to me,” Taylor stated from detention.
In accordance with The Guardian, Taylor just lately spent three days in what CoreCivic—the personal jail firm working Stewart—calls a “restrictive housing unit” after refusing to enter his cell, which was flooded with an inch of water. The leak posed a severe hazard to his battery-powered, microprocessor-controlled prosthetic legs, which can not get moist.
His fiancée, Mildred Pierre, vividly recalled the second ICE brokers arrested him:
“There was a truck that blocked me from behind, two automobiles pulled up in entrance, weapons drawn. ‘Get out of the automobile! Get out of the automobile!’ My youngsters have been within the again crying. It was like a scene from a film,” she stated.
Pierre described the ordeal of the previous six months as a nightmare.
“Rodney is completely disabled. He’s a double amputee. He wants to return house,” she stated.
Taylor, a father of seven by means of a blended household, had been dwelling what many would name the American Dream. A well known barber in Gwinnett County, he labored legally on a allow and maintained a secure household life.
However the detention has taken a toll on his well being and psychological well-being. His lawyer, Sarah Owings, says ICE has discretion to launch Taylor however has chosen to not. She emphasised that though Taylor has a conviction, it was pardoned way back.
“Mr. Taylor has a conviction—that’s true—however it was pardoned. He served no jail time and was sentenced solely to probation and time served. He shouldn’t be topic to this type of therapy,” Owings stated.
ICE has instructed FOX 5 Information that Taylor’s pardon was not a “full” pardon, making him ineligible for authorized residency beneath present immigration tips.
Pierre fears that deportation could possibly be a dying sentence.
“He’ll die if he’s deported,” she stated, pointing to the shortage of superior medical amenities in Liberia to handle Taylor’s situation and prosthetic wants.
Taylor’s deportation listening to is scheduled for August, a call that may decide whether or not he returns to Liberia—a rustic he hasn’t seen since infancy—or stays in the one house he’s recognized for over 4 many years.
