ICE Detains Man for Nearly 10 Months Despite Evidence He Was Born in the United

An investigation by The Associated Press has uncovered a troubling case involving a 39-year-old man with serious mental illness who has spent nearly 10 months in federal immigration detention despite substantial documentary evidence that he is an American citizen.

Phillip James, who has used several different names, has been held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since January 5, 2026, and faces deportation to Jamaica. The central controversy is that James insists he was born in Jamaica, while his mother, attorneys, historical court records, and a Florida birth certificate indicate he was born in Orange County, Florida, in 1987.

Medical experts say James suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and that his insistence on Jamaican citizenship is part of an elaborate delusional belief system. He also claims to be the illegitimate son of a former Jamaican prime minister and a descendant of Lebanese royalty.

Rather than treating these claims as symptoms of mental illness, immigration authorities have relied heavily on James' own statements to pursue his deportation. Evidence of American citizenship The AP investigation identified several significant pieces of evidence supporting James' U.S. citizenship.

His Florida birth certificate identifies his American mother and Jamaican father. A separate 1988 paternity court record, independently obtained by AP, corroborates the birth certificate's information, including his date of birth, parents' identities, and Florida residence.

James was issued a U.S. passport in 2008 and successfully renewed it in 2023 after legally changing his name. He held a valid U.S. passport for approximately 15 years before the government revoked it.

Additionally, court records from a previous Florida criminal conviction identify him as a U.S. citizen.

Despite this evidence, the Department of Homeland Security maintains that James was born in Jamaica and claims his original passport was obtained using a fraudulent birth certificate. However, DHS provided AP with no evidence substantiating that allegation.

Complicating the government's position further, Jamaican authorities have informed James' attorneys that they have no record of his birth or citizenship in Jamaica. How James ended up in ICE custody Beginning in 2024, James submitted several confusing applications seeking U.S. citizenship and protection from deportation, despite having previously held an American passport.

In these applications, he claimed Jamaican birth, offered conflicting biographical information, and asserted that he had obtained American citizenship through adoption.

The government subsequently revoked his passport, rejected his citizenship application, and initiated deportation proceedings in December 2025.

ICE arrested James following an immigration court hearing on January 5, 2026. He was transferred to the Miami Detention Center in Indiana, a maximum-security facility nicknamed the "Speedway Slammer" by the White House.

The prison operates under an arrangement between Indiana and federal immigration authorities that could generate $213 million for the state over two years. Indiana receives $291 per detainee per day, more than three times ICE's median detention bed rate.

The facility has faced allegations of overcrowding and inadequate medical care, and at least two detainees have died there. Mental illness and the immigration system One of the investigation's most significant findings concerns the government's reliance on statements from an individual whose ability to accurately describe his own history has been called into question by medical professionals.

A psychologist who examined James concluded that his severe mental illness and entrenched delusions made him an unreliable source of information about his personal history.

Nevertheless, immigration authorities and the immigration judge who ordered his deportation in April relied on his assertions that he was Jamaican.

James initially represented himself in immigration proceedings because, unlike criminal defendants, immigration detainees are not automatically entitled to government-provided attorneys.

His current attorneys, from the nonprofit Bronx Defenders, located his mother and uncovered documentation supporting his Florida birth. They filed a federal petition seeking his release on August 19 and are appealing the deportation order. Questions about ICE oversight and accountability The case raises larger questions about how immigration authorities investigate disputed citizenship claims, particularly when detainees suffer from serious mental illness.

Northwestern University professor Jacqueline Stevens, who has studied the wrongful detention of American citizens for two decades, argues that the case illustrates a systemic problem: immigration officials may accept evidence supporting deportation while dismissing contradictory evidence as fraudulent.

ICE has no legal authority to detain American citizens for immigration enforcement purposes. Although mistaken detentions have occurred historically, they generally last hours or days rather than months.

The Department of Homeland Security disputes that James is a citizen, denies that ICE detains U.S. citizens, and maintains that individuals facing removal receive due process.

Former senior ICE official Deborah Fleischaker acknowledged the complexity of the case but said the available evidence supporting James' American citizenship appears strong. She expressed concern that the administration's pursuit of deportation numbers could cause individuals to become trapped in a bureaucratic process that fails to recognize mistakes.

The investigation also highlights transparency concerns. Many immigration detention records are not readily accessible through the federal court system's online database. AP has filed a lawsuit challenging restrictions on public access to these records and relied on assistance from the nonprofit Habeas Dockets to obtain documents in this case. What happens next? James remains detained while his attorneys challenge the deportation order before the Board of Immigration Appeals and pursue his release in federal court.

The federal government has not acknowledged any mistake. In a September 28 court filing, an assistant U.S. attorney continued to describe James as a Jamaican native and Lebanese citizen who entered the United States illegally.

U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty is expected to rule on the petition seeking his release.

Experts also question whether Jamaica would accept James for deportation without evidence that he is a Jamaican citizen. However, the possibility remains that authorities could attempt to deport him to a third country.

The investigation ultimately raises a fundamental constitutional and administrative concern: What happens when the federal government accepts the delusions of a mentally ill individual as evidence of foreign citizenship while rejecting official records indicating that he is American?

If the documentary evidence is upheld, James' prolonged detention would represent a serious failure of the immigration enforcement system, particularly its responsibility to distinguish between people legally subject to deportation and American citizens who are not.

The case remains unresolved, and the government continues to dispute his citizenship.

Source and attribution: This is a detailed summary of an investigative report by Ryan J. Foley, an investigative journalist with The Associated Press based in Iowa City, Iowa. The original article was published by AP and updated October 27, 2026, at 3:08 a.m. EDT. Foley has more than two decades of experience with AP and was part of the investigative team named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the 2024 series “Lethal Restraint.”