For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.
He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.
From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he’d get out.
I’m waiting for the “we’re going to hold you in the country for staying in the country to long and hold you and extra day for every day you continue to be in the country”. At this point I wouldn’t put it past them. The cruelty is the point.
He is probably in a for profit prison. There is a big incentive to imprison people. Government provides prisoner, private prison share holders get paid by the public and by the people hiring their prisoners for slave labor and politicians get a kickback.
I hadn’t even thought of the legalized slavery aspect of prisons, makes sense once you said it.