Jermaine Thomas, born in 1986 on a U.S. Army base in Germany to an active-duty American soldier, was deported last week to Jamaica — a country he had never visited — according to a report from The Austin Chronicle.
Thomas’ father, originally from Jamaica, served 18 years in the U.S. Army and became a naturalized American citizen during his service. His mother, a Kenyan citizen at the time of Thomas’ birth, moved with the family from base to base. After his parents divorced, Thomas lived with his father in Florida until his father’s death in 2010 from kidney failure.
Following that tragedy, Thomas’ life took a difficult turn. He spent years in Texas, struggling with homelessness and cycling through the criminal justice system.
Though the timeline of his initial deportation order is unclear, a 2015 Supreme Court case confirmed that Thomas was not entitled to U.S. citizenship despite being born on a U.S. military base overseas. The Department of Justice successfully argued that being born on an Army base did not meet the legal criteria for citizenship. The court also cited Thomas’ criminal record — which includes a domestic violence charge and two offenses deemed “crimes involving moral turpitude.”
With no legal claim to U.S., German, or Jamaican citizenship, Thomas was effectively stateless for years while remaining in Texas. Most recently, he was living in Killeen, near Fort Hood.
The deportation process began after Thomas was evicted from his apartment. While removing his belongings, he was arrested by local police for trespassing — a misdemeanor in Texas. After being informed by his court-appointed attorney that he might wait months in jail before trial, Thomas agreed to a plea deal. But instead of being released, he was transferred to an ICE detention facility near Houston, where he remained for over two months before being deported.
Now in Kingston, Jamaica, Thomas is living in a hotel. He told The Chronicle he doesn’t know who is paying for his stay or whether he has legal status in the country. He’s unsure how to find work or whether it would even be legal for him to do so.
“If you’re in the U.S. Army, and the Army deploys you overseas, and you have your child there, and that child makes a mistake after you die — and you put your life on the line for this country — are you okay with the government just kicking your child out?” Thomas asked during a phone call with The Chronicle.
Neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment.
