Connor Read, who is married and has two children, was detained in June during residency permit interview
A British-born man who has lived in the US since he was nine years old has been held in an ICE detention facility for more than a month and a half under threat of deportation, it has been reported.
Connor Read, 29, was taken by ICE agents after he was invited to a green card (residency permit) interview in Tampa, Florida, on 3 June, and separated from his wife, Jaelin, 25, and his three-year-old twin sons Ryder and Ozzie.
Originally from Chatham, in Kent, Read moved to the US in 2007 as a child with his mother and stepfather. He attended American schools and only returned to the UK once.
According to the Times, he was subject to a removal order in 2011 but at the age of 16 was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) status, a policy that provides deportation relief and work permits to eligible individuals who entered the US as children.
But while under Daca status Read reportedly gained minor convictions, including for possession of narcotic equipment, possession of liquor and resisting an officer, that have now led to him being deemed a “criminal illegal alien” by the Trump administration.
The Times reported that because of the narcotic charge, at the age of 22, Read was unable to renew his Daca status. He met Jaelin on a dating app in 2020, when his immigration status was unsettled. Having married, the couple tried to apply for a green card.
On 3 June, Read was invited to attend a green card meeting at the federal immigration building in Tampa. In the interview room, four ICE agents arrested him and removed him from the building. Immigration officials told Jaelin Read that her husband would not be coming home.
He was taken to Pinellas county jail, in Florida, where he spent eight days in a shared cell, and was then flown to an ICE detention centre in Louisiana. He is appealing against his final removal order but has been told a decision may take up to six months.
