Disclosure: It seems that the Associated Press or the writer Ryan J. Foley either used chatgpt to write this article or used it to research for the article at a minimum because of the source identifiers in the URLs linked (?utm_source=chatgpt.com). I have left the links as posted on the AP’s website. I could find no other primary source that didn’t reference ithe AP’s article directly so I decided to leave it as is with this disclosure, note that there may be automated post processing happening to the urls to remove these identifiers from this post.
For nearly a year, immigration authorities have detained and sought to deport a mentally ill man whose mother, lawyers and public records say was born in the United States and not Jamaica as he claims, a review by The Associated Press found.
[Immigration and Customs Enforcement](https://apnews.com/hub/immigration) has no authority to detain U.S. citizens, but has long done so, usually for hours or days, when officers mistake identities or can’t immediately verify citizenship. Immigration lawyers say a nearly 10-month improper detention would be rare but not unprecedented.
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The findings suggest that a cursory investigation, lax oversight, and possibly a refusal to admit a mistake may have ensnared a U.S. citizen for nearly all of 2026 as the [Trump administration](https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump?utm_source=chatgpt.com) rushes to deport large numbers of people suspected of being in the country illegally.
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In seeking to detain and deport him, immigration authorities relied on James’ word that he was born in Jamaica and entered the U.S. illegally in 2009, the AP review found. But Jamaican officials have denied any record that he was born or has citizenship there, and James has been unable to provide proof, public records show.
James’ insistence that he was born in [Jamaica](https://apnews.com/hub/jamaica) is a grand delusion, a symptom of paranoid schizophrenia with which he has been diagnosed, according to reports filed in court by medical experts who have recently assessed him. In particular, he claims that he is the illegitimate son of a former Jamaican prime minister and the descendant of a royal family in Lebanon, where he also claims citizenship despite a lack of evidence.
One psychologist concluded James was not “a reliable historian due to the serious nature of his mental illness, including a deeply entrenched delusional belief system.”
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“What’s going on in these cases is that evidence that’s consistent with deportation is treated as accurate and evidence that is inconsistent is treated as fraudulent,” she said. “This case is not a one-off. This is a feature, not a bug, of how ICE handles claims of U.S. citizenship.”
The Department of Homeland Security denied that ICE detains U.S. citizens, and says detainees facing removal proceedings receive due process.
The records detailing James’ claim to citizenship, like thousands of cases involving ICE detainees, were not available in the federal court system’s online database. The AP, with the assistance of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, has filed a [lawsuit](https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-09-15-AP-v.-AOUSC-Complaint.pdf) to overturn a policy limiting access to such documents.
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James was born to a U.S. citizen mother and Jamaican national father in Orange County, Florida, in 1987, according to the birth certificate filed by his lawyers and attested to by his mother. He has suffered from mental illness since he was a child, according to an affidavit submitted by his mother. He lived in Florida with his father, who died in 2024, after he became hard to control as an adolescent, the affidavit said.
A 1988 court document in a case that established James’ paternity, obtained independently by AP, matches details on the birth certificate, including his date of birth, the identities of his birth parents and their residence in Florida.
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James was taken to the Miami Detention Center in Bunker Hill, Indiana, a maximum-security prison that had recently started housing up to 1,000 ICE detainees under a state-federal partnership. Nicknamed the Speedway Slammer by the White House in a nod to Indiana’s connection to motor racing, the facility has faced complaints about overcrowding and medical neglect, and at least two detainees have died.
It’s a lucrative arrangement for the state that could generate $213 million in the first two years — including payments of $291 per detainee per day, over three times ICE’s median bed rate of $92. Gov. Mike Braun’s office declined to comment on James’ case.
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Unlike criminal defendants, detainees are not guaranteed legal counsel. James initially acted as his own attorney in challenging his detention as unlawful, calling himself a Jamaica native and claiming citizenship in Lebanon.
Lawyers representing ICE and the immigration judge who ordered his removal to Jamaica in April have taken James at his word, court records show. Other than his claims of Jamaican birth, ICE submitted evidence showing he applied for a Jamaican national insurance registration card, which is available to noncitizens.
James is now represented by the Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit which has a contract to represent indigent New York detainees.
After discovering the birth certificate and his mother in Florida, they filed a petition in federal court seeking his release on Aug. 19. They’re also appealing his removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals. His lawyers declined to comment and said James would not grant an interview.
The government has not acknowledged any error. In a Sept. 28 filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Irvin called James “a native of Jamaica and a citizen of Lebanon who entered the United States without admission.” Irvin argued James’ claim to citizenship should be decided in immigration court, rather than by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty is expected to rule on the petition seeking James’ release.