Friday, January 25, 2008

Another citizen detained, slated for deportation

MercuryRising and other blogs have the story of Thomas Warziniack, and how officials didn't expend the very minimal effort that would have protected his rights as a US citizen. Warziniack was born in Minnesota and grew up in Georgia. Although family members have produced Warziniack's Minnesota birth certificate, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have been holding him in an Arizona detention facility pending deportation--because, they say, Warziniack claimed to be a Russian citizen upon arrest for minor drug charges. Warziniack has a Southern accent, does not speak Russian, and has never been to Russia. He is a former heroin addict who may experience mental illness, and he has no memory of making such claims. But "the immigration agents told me they never make mistakes," explained Warziniack.

"Proving citizenship is especially difficult for the poor, mentally ill, disabled or anyone who has trouble getting a copy of his or her birth certificate while behind bars," notes reporter Marisa Taylor. And because of such cases, immigration and citizenship are disability issues.

6 comments:

Elizabeth McClung said...

This is surreal but actually what I would expect from the immigration services who have had a "if in doubt...deport" policy for LGBT people (particularly T) for several years. This one seems to be something that one would want to believe is made up but I am sure it is not.

Someone arrests me while on drugs, I tell them I am from Mars and get deported from the US because "Mars is not a recognized shared citizen state with the US"

Do people who tell police they can fly get turned over to homeland security as potential terrorist threats?

Keith said...

This is an important blog. I find it very intersting. Thank you for sharing it.

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