Government Seeks to Deport U.S. Army Veteran Mark Reid
Matthew Vogel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9:30am EST, November 2, 2012
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Matthew Vogel; matthe...@clinics.yale.edu, 718-419-5876
Trudy Rebert; trudy....@clinics.yale.edu, 717-701-0569
GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO DEPORT
U.S.
ARMY VETERAN MARK REID
New Haven, Conn. – United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is attempting to deport Mark Reid, a legal permanent resident who came to this country as a child from Jamaica, worked hard to support his family, and served honorably in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve for six years. Mr. Reid is currently in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction serving a sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. He is eligible for parole, but has been approved only for release to ICE on an immigration detainer.
“Mark Reid has lived in New Haven for over thirty years,” said Reverend Josh Pawelek, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society: East in Manchester, Connecticut. “He is a member of the community. He has worked hard, paid his taxes, and raised two U.S. citizen children, one of whom has decided to follow his father’s example and plans to enlist in the armed forces. ICE should not be deporting this man.”
“I joined the Army to serve my country,” said Mr. Reid. “My cousins became citizens, and I thought I had too through my military service. I grew up, went to school, and have lived my entire adult life in Connecticut. It wasn’t until after I got arrested that an immigration officer told me I could be deported to Jamaica. I haven’t been to Jamaica since I was a kid and have nobody there.”
“Mark Reid has demonstrated by his time in service that he would have given his life so that we can live in peace,” said Garry C. Monk, Executive Director of the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress. “To deport Mark Reid would be the extreme punishment and set the precedent for future similar cases to be disposition in this manner. His citizenship should be the order of the day not deportation. If his citizenship wasn’t in question when he was in the US Army for six years, why should it be an issue now?”
“Mark Reid filed his paperwork to join the Army, and ICE is trying to deport him because he didn’t realize that he also need to file his paperwork to become a citizen,” said Aaron Littman, a law student representing Mr. Reid through the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School. “If, as it repeatedly claims, ICE prioritizes dangerous criminals for removal, why is it trying so hard to deport a non-violent offender and Army veteran?”
Concerned individuals should contact Fred McGrath, ICE Chief Counsel in Boston at 617-565-3140 to urge ICE officials to rescind the immigration hold request on Mark Reid.
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