ICE Detains Mentally Ill U.S. Citizen for One Year
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to detain Phillip James, a U.S. citizen with schizophrenia, despite evidence of his birth in Florida.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained Phillip James, a 39-year-old man with paranoid schizophrenia, for approximately one year. James was arrested in January 2026 and is currently held at the Miami Detention Center in Indiana, a facility known as the Speedway Slammer.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security seek to deport James to Jamaica, alleging his Florida birth certificate is fraudulent. The government based its efforts on James' own claims that he was born in Jamaica and is the illegitimate son of a former Jamaican prime minister. Medical experts describe these claims as delusions resulting from his mental illness. Conversely, an Associated Press investigation found birth and court records supporting his U.S. citizenship, and James possesses a 15-year-old passport indicating he was born in Florida.
While an immigration judge ordered James' removal to Jamaica in April, Jamaican officials have reported no record of his citizenship. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Irvin has maintained that James is a native of Jamaica and a citizen of Lebanon. The Bronx Defenders have filed a federal petition for his release, which is currently under consideration by a federal judge.
