For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.
He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.
From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he’d get out.
“he’s been here too long, keep him here longer!”
The most conservative thing I’ve read all day
Detaining people isn’t free either, we also paid to keep them here longer. The whole thing is immensely stupid.
Only if you believe their words, which you absolutely should not. A for profit prison management company got paid for 100 days detention when they would have gotten 0 if they let this guy leave.
Everything working out as planned.
Private prisons have an incentive to keep people like him in the system as long as possible.
Lives gets destroyed, everyone pay for it, money is diverted from actually useful stuff, but all this is a low price to pay for a handful of mafia bosses to get even richer.
You forget that the camps are private, so they need to keep him there to get paid. 100 days seems like about enough.
Irish are non-white again. We’re going back to the 1800s, baby.
Look up the unjust hangings of Dominic Daley and James Halligan in 1806. There was no evidence whatsoever that they committed the murder they were accused of other than maybe being in the area at the time and even that was based on shaky grounds. The defense even had their closing statement saying that the prosecution had no evidence other than ‘aww come on! They’re Irish! You know how they’re like! Besides, someone has to hang for that murder!’
Removed by mod
Indeed and spiraling toward a 3rd World dictatorship.
Stop traveling to that shithole.
“Armoured cars, tanks and guns! Came to take away our sons! But we must stand behind the men, the men behind the wire!”
Latinos and Irish united in their fight against immigration officials!
Like 80 years ago. Nobody was safe from Nazi German GeStaPo. Why do people expect safety from or accountability of the Nazi American GeStaPo?
At least this (probably) white guy, who speaks the same language, got to suffer on taxpayers’ dollars. What a relief. /s
tbf I‘m glad it doesn’t only happen to people from poor countries
Guess the “Luck of the Irish” ran out
fun-ny…?
It is justification of budget. They are apprehended criminals as long as they are on the books.
she has had European clients shocked to learn they can face serious consequences for briefly overstaying a visa.
Are people stupid? Visa says “GTFO before this date”. If you then don’t then there are consequences. It’s not that hard to understand, no?
I agree that it’s ridiculous how people treated in those jails, and that he should not have been held for 3 months, but come on…
He had a medical condition, in writing from the doctor that he couldn’t fly for 8 to 12 weeks in case of blood clogs. He notified the authorities that he might be overstaying a little without any response.
And still he got detained, the US is a banana republic led by an ape.
If the government is so incompetent that it detains someone for months because they overstayed their visa for 3 days , do you trust them to handle anything else correctly?
It should be pretty easy to detain someone, say, hey you didn’t leave on time and get them on a flight out. This doesn’t take months, especially if there’s some actual circumstances like this guy apparently had.
This type of behavior is going to stop international companies from doing any in person business with US companies. It’s disgusting.
Key word is “serious.” Overstaying a visa visit is a civil offense, not even a criminal misdemeanor where the punishment may just be a small fine.
Wonder how much it cost to keep him instead of just let him back to Ireland. Bunch of cunts
hundreds of thousands per person.
With these assholes it’s not about money, it’s about cruelty.
Oh sure, but they’ll continually claim until they’re blue in the face that everything they do is about money. So they should be continually exposed as the financially irresponsible idiots that they are.
For the people where egregious human rights violations and terrorism aren’t deal breakers, wasting money is. Frankly I don’t respect their opinion, however, they also vote, therefore their opinion does matter.
It’s both. They are unequivocally profiting from the cruelty.
I still think it’s about money, especially considering the size of the prison industrial complex. It just so happens that capitalism encourages cruelty when it’s profitable.
Sure it cost the taxpayers something, but that went directly into the pockets of the for-profit prison company. So you see, this is actually great for the economy!
remember they hid the identity of all the construction companies that help build the florida concentration camp.
They’re paid in how many teeth they can pull out with rusty pliers. Compensation isn’t always in hard cash, you know.
Daily reminder (especially to my Canadian homies) for the love of fuck do NOT travel to the US. They have made it clear they dont want visitors and it isnt safe for us to go there.
Do not risk it. Find any other safe country to visit and go there instead. Or stay home and see your own country.
Or if you want to visit North America, may I suggest Canada? Its nice here and we have cool things to see too. Also you wont be detained for no reason and live for months in a cage.
Come to Japan but avoid the big cities. Check out our smaller prefectures instead. It’s not as glitzy as Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto, but there will be less crowds and beautiful nature.
No, sir, you may not. I’m currently in Canada travelling with a group of people. Several times we heard strangers passing by were mumbling “f**king tourists”. We tried to ask the last one what did he just say, he avoided to answer, we told him to shut the f**k up, and after that he attacked us.
You can say fuck in the internet, it’s okay… the Canadian can’t hurt you here.
True, sir. They can hurt me only in Canada.
Uh huh.
Let me guess. You disarmed them with your martial arts skills and everyone clapped, saluted, and sang God Bless America.
No. A guy from the group managed to de-escalate the situation. As for the “God Bless America” song why do we need to sing it? We are a mixed group from Germany, France and China, half of the group doesn’t speak English and the other doesn’t know the words.
Either way, assuming youre telling the truth, thats a very rare occurance. Tourists are welcomed here. Sometimes tourists cause problems (they do in all countries) but being attacked? That isnt the norm at all and I have real doubts youre being entirely honest.
And may I suggest Mexico? It’s a beautiful country full of wonderful food, music, and people. North America is a shit sandwich, but the bread on both ends is quite magnificent.
This is beautifully written. 🤌🤌
Yeah, never mind that the murder rate per 100k in Mexico is quadruple what it is in the “backwater” US (25.2 vs 6.3). It’s flawless and beautiful, and the US is just horrible and worse in every way than there and everywhere else, “shit”, as you said.
Wonder why so many people are trying to immigrate there, then, hm. Also, Mexico’s got more people trying to get out than get in, how strange.
Ah, what do all those people know, anyway? They’re just making the decision to completely uproot their lives and go to another country for fun, not because they’re desperate for a better life!
Please see my other comment about how the statistics can be misleading.
I am in no way saying that Mexico is utopia, they have their problems just like all countries do. Wealth inequality is a big problem. That doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t travel there though. If you are a traveler from outside of North America, no Mexican version of ICE is going to put you in Alligator Auschwitz.
Also, it is worth noting that many of the immigrants coming through Mexico are from South America, where there are even larger problems with poverty than in Mexico. Sure, plenty of Mexicans are coming too, but not all brown people are running from the same problem.
I hear the cartels are doing a great job on running things.
How many tourists to Mexico are having problems with cartels vs how many tourists to America are having problems with ICE?
Maybe they wouldn’t have so much power if the yanks weren’t busy buying them coke
Respectfully, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I live on the border, am in Mexico several times per week, and have traveled the country pretty extensively. Most areas of Mexico are as safe as any city in the rest of the western world as long as you’re not intentionally fucking around and finding out.
And I’ll say this—you’re way less likely to get a mass shooting at a Walmart in Mexico than you are to get one in America.
Seconding this, I’ve had the great fortune to spend almost 18 months of my life in Mexico, visiting over 20 states. I’ve yet to feel unsafe in all that time. It’s an incredibly beautiful country with an extremely welcoming culture, stunning architecture and natural beauty, and unmatched cuisine. Mexico is a bucket list destination for sure.
You’re literally 4 times more likely to be murdered in Mexico as in the US, according to both countries’ own statistics.
Edit: lol, imagine downvoting a plain fact.
Those statistics can be misleading. I spend a huge amount of time in Ciudad Juarez, a city known for violence. What the base murder rate doesn’t tell you is that over 90% of the murders are by cartel members to other cartel members, which means that only 10% or less of the murders are happing to a random bystander.
Furthermore, Mexico has extremely strict weapons laws which means it is very unlikely for bystanders to get caught in the crossfire of a “good guy with a gun”.
That’s what I mean by you’re relatively safe if you aren’t fucking around and finding out—just like how New York City was a lot safer back in the day if you weren’t interacting with the mob.
I’ve been all over Juarez at literally every time of the day and night walking alone, and I’ve never been threatened by anyone. Just last night, I walked several miles totally alone at 2 AM. I’m not saying that nobody ever gets in hot water there, but it is far from a guaranteed danger. By contrast, I experienced many more threatening situations both day and night in NYC while spending about an equal amount of time there. I know these experiences are anecdotal, but they are also first hand accounts from someone who has actually been there rather than just reading the news.
And if you’re a tourist visiting a popular place like Roma Norte in Mexico City, you will not only be very safe, but you’d be hard pressed to not have an amazing time.
Fun fact: Mexico only has two legal stores in the whole country.
Wanna take a random guess at where the cartels get all their guns?
spoiler
About 70% of guns recovered by Mexican law enforcement officials from 2011 to 2016 were originally purchased from legal gun dealers in the United States, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
What the base murder rate doesn’t tell you is that over 90% of the murders are by cartel members to other cartel members, which means that only 10% or less of the murders are happing to a random bystander.
And what makes you think the type of murder breakdown isn’t similar in the US? Most of the murders there are gang violence etc. as well.
The fact that Mexico’s raw number of annual murders is higher than the US’s, despite being a much, much less populated country, is not something that can just be handwaved away.
There is a reason Mexico’s net migration rate is negative.
Fine, I’ll concede and move passed the murder rate.
We are talking about the risk to travelers. America currently has a government sponsored effort to detain people who are visiting here, sometimes even when they are here legally. Mexico is not doing that. The risk to travelers is pretty damn clear right now.
Edit: Just to be clear, I don’t think that the gang violence rate breaks down differently for the US—before this latest ICE takeover, I would have said it is safe for travelers here too.
Right, the US isn’t going to murder you, they’ll just deport you to some other country you’ve never been to and that country will torture and murder you!
How many people has that happened to? Surely you can show that it’s happened a statistically-significant number of times, to talk about that as if it’s a normal/typical course of action.
Or has alarmist media made you assume it’s a common event, when it isn’t?
Fascist countries are well known for their spotless record keeping easily accessible to the public.
Does this include school children?
I see what you’re implying. However:
Homicide has been the leading cause of death [in youths age 1-19] since 2017 in Mexico…it reached 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022.
But in Figure 1 here, it shows the rate among US children to be about 1.5 per 100,000, in the same year, 2022.
Children are, likewise re the general population, four times more likely to be murdered in Mexico as in the US.
Also worth pointing out that in 2022, the rate for only Mexican children (6.5) is greater than the rate for all ages in the US (6.3). That fact should speak volumes all on its own.
Edit: Never stops being funny to see a simple, plainly-laid-out debunking of an assertion, with cited evidence, downvoted by ideologues who apparently just can’t handle having their narratives challenged.
Hell pretty sure we have more masked armed men shoving people into vans in the us now as well
I know several people with dual citizenship Canadian/U.S. who have moved from the U.S. to Canada in the past several months.
I just figured out a path for me to gain Mexican permanent resident and eventually Mexican citizenship if needed. It will take some time but with how this country is going, My wife and I need an escape route.
That’s an unusual situation. Normally, Mexicans are trying to get a US citizenship, not the other way around. In any case, I wonder how long does it take for US citizens to apply for political asylum elsewhere.
mexican born , are tyring to flee to the usa, but american citizens to mexico, probably more common than you think. i have met college students who stayed in mexico permanantly after thier semester was over in the us, this was a long time ago though. its quite common apparently. hard to justify staying in HCOL country.
Mexican immigration rules from what I am seeing are very reasonable with clear processes and do not require a lawyer for most people. So you rarely hear about immigrants having issues. The entire process is relatively inexpensive as well.
To legally immigrate to the U.S. almost always requires a lawyer, the process is deliberately convoluted, and costs thousands of dollars in fees.
Applying for political asylum outside of the U.S., good luck. The burden of proof is quite high and costly. Most people will not qualify, yet…
https://www.relocate.world/articles/us-citizens-seeking-asylum
My partner and I made the decision to leave the day after inauguration. We’re comfortably in Canada now.
I hope that’s far enough. As a Canadian, I’m not so sure.
It was really our only choice. I have friends who went to Mexico and are also worried
If you have an escape route available, I suggest getting it prepared now. Hopefully you won’t need it, but it’s better to be prepared than not.
If only the dumbfucks with the stupid slogans like “love it or leave it” knew just how difficult and costly it is to legally move to another country. Unless you have money, work in a high demand job or have family connections it’s fucking difficult or close to impossible to do.
Most of the dumbfucks have no way to legally move to any other country legally.
Fam has researched the same things, but have worried that Mexcico might not be far enough.
Also some worry that the locals might take it out on expats if it becomes a war.
Tell people you’re Canadian
It’s aboot time someone came up with a good solution for that thanks!
Also some worry that the locals might take it out on expats if it becomes a war.
Learn Spanish, and hope they focus on the gringos that only speak 'Murican
Working on that for about a year I still suck
Just stupid all around…
“You overstayed your welcome, buddy. Now instead of letting you go home, we’re going to keep you trapped here even longer.”
Do you want them to stay or to go? Make up your friggin’ mind! 😬
The goal is to make people afraid. Fear is a feature, just like violence.
While profiting off of it. Government contractors were paid for 100 days of related services for this poor fellow.
I’m waiting for the “we’re going to hold you in the country for staying in the country to long and hold you and extra day for every day you continue to be in the country”. At this point I wouldn’t put it past them. The cruelty is the point.
He is probably in a for profit prison. There is a big incentive to imprison people. Government provides prisoner, private prison share holders get paid by the public and by the people hiring their prisoners for slave labor and politicians get a kickback.
I hadn’t even thought of the legalized slavery aspect of prisons, makes sense once you said it.
They’re trying to meet quotas, they don’t give a shit about anything else.
But at this point why even bother meeting the quotas? Can’t they just lie and tell everyone they deported 3 billion immigrants so that the racist rednecks will all cheer and smile?
It’s likely that both things are happening. I’m sure there are some that stretch the numbers but there are also others who revel in the cruelty.
probably when they get audited, they want actual bodies in the camps.
I think people aren’t realizing, they’re racist af. They are actually doing nazi things all the fucking time now. They have actual concentration camps. The point is to get rid of anyone not white. Their lead nazi dude (white nationalist) is a Jewish person. It’s just as insane as the nazis too.
Edit: Also, to fill their prisons to hand out prison contracts and get slave labor. This is also a money grab.
Kolanaki, i guess you’re not really getting the point here. The point is intentional cruelty to demotivate these people to ever come to the US again.
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia
See? That’s the problem here.
Really, people, do NOT go to the US.
why would an irish tourist go to a place like west virginia. why not NEW YORK, or washington, or california, or even canada.
Do NOT follow the country roads.
I can’t go home…
What about the mountain mommas?
I’d be interested to see what Republican policies have done to the US tourism industry. I know it’s taking a hit, but how much I’m not sure. I know I wouldn’t come here by choice.
im betting florida is crushed, given how there hasnt been news for MONTHS since trump began his tariffs.
I am a citizen and live in the states, once I finish my planned US vacations this year, I am exclusively going to vacation in other counties.
I don’t want to support the country with any more money than I have to to live and survive
Completely crushed the industry…95 billion dollars loss projected this year
its probably more than that, since alot of them use immigrants for farm work, and hospitality in the tourism industry, so the fallout is probably greater.
And that’s with people going on trips they planned a year ago. 2026 will see tourist towns turn into ghost towns.
maybe they rebrand has HAUNTED TOWNS.
that’ll teach them nasty foreigners
And in completely unrelated news, why can’t I get cheap fresh produce any more? Where did my favorite taco truck go???
where’s my MacArthur Park ice cream vendor?
I don’t know, but someone left the cake out in the rain.
I don’t even want to travel within the country. Or leave it if I had to come back.
Gonna be even worse now too with the National Park Service cuts: there are so many foreign tourists at the parks. As there should be too! Our National Parks are amazing!
Our National Parks are amazing!
For now.
when its filled with luxury apartments or complexes.
Until they have open pit mines and clear cut logging.
People are only still going to the states because they had trips planned before the shit hit the fan. Once those trips are over, tourism to the states will be near zilch
I SAW bunch of tourists in bay area specifically riding the cable cars, pier 39, definitely still way less, it will be all gone by christmas. its still way less than in early in the year.
I’m in a red state tourist town and our overall visitation is down over 30%. That said, international visitors only account for about 3% of tourism in this state, so there’s much more involved with that loss than just the international travel.
Inflation caused by corporate greed kills people’s ability to take vacations for some reason.
I know I’m not trying to visit any red states anytime soon. I have some inlaws in red states and they better stay alive and healthy for the next 3.5 years or I will be FaceTimeing into any familial obligations
