ICE takes a mentally ill man at his word that he was born in Jamaica, but his mother and public records say he was born in the U.S. 

A 39-year-old man has been held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Indiana since January while the agency seeks to deport him to Jamaica. According to The Associated Press (AP), his mother, lawyers and public records say he was born in Florida, not Jamaica as he claims.

The man, Phillip James, was arrested by agents on Jan. 5 after an immigration court hearing. He is held at a state-federal detention facility in Bunker Hill, Indiana, which the White House nicknamed the “Speedway Slammer.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputes that James is a U.S. citizen and alleges that the birth certificate he used to get a passport was fraudulent. The wire service stated that DHS did not provide proof when asked. DHS also denies that ICE detains U.S. citizens and says detainees facing removal receive due process.

Documents at the center of the dispute

James was born in Orange County, Florida, in 1987, according to a birth certificate filed by his lawyers and an affidavit from his mother. His mother is a U.S. citizen and his father was a Jamaican national. A 1988 court paternity document obtained by the wire service matches the birth certificate’s details. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a), a person born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen at birth.

James received a U.S. passport in 2008 and a new one in 2023 after a court-ordered name change. In 2024, he began filing citizenship and deportation-protection applications that stated he was born in Jamaica. The government revoked his passport and denied his citizenship application.

DHS told the wire service that the original passport was issued on a “fraudulent birth certificate.” Jamaican authorities informed his lawyers that they hold no record of his birth in that country. ICE also pointed to a 2011 Florida conviction, but records in that case list him as a U.S. citizen. Court filings from medical experts state that James’s belief that he was born in Jamaica is a symptom of a mental illness. One psychologist concluded that he is not “a reliable historian.”

An immigration judge ordered his removal to Jamaica in April. His lawyers at the Bronx Defenders asked a federal court to release him on Aug. 19 and are appealing the order. An assistant U.S. attorney argued in a Sept. 28 filing that the citizenship question belongs in immigration court. U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty is expected to rule on the release petition.

A 2015 ICE directive states that ICE cannot use its civil immigration enforcement authority to detain a U.S. citizen. It also requires officers to assess citizenship claims. The wire service reported that ICE has detained citizens in the past, typically for several hours or days. Immigration lawyers called a nearly 10-month detention uncommon but not without precedent.

Northwestern University’s Deportation Research Clinic, directed by professor Jacqueline Stevens, analyzed government data from 2011 to 2017. It found more than 260 U.S. citizens held for an average of 180 days before being released.

ICE detentions have also been the subject of another report, in which a woman says agents took her away after a green card interview ended in an arrest.