Man was arrested at green card interview, family says
Connor Read, 29, originally from Chatham in Kent, England, was brought to the United States in 2007 by his mother and stepfather, according to The Guardian. He attended American schools and has returned to the U.K. only once since arriving.
Read was invited to a green card interview at the federal immigration building in Tampa on June 3. In the interview room, four ICE agents arrested him and removed him from the building, the report said. Immigration officials told Jaelin Read that her husband would not be coming home.
Read was taken to Pinellas County Jail in Florida, where he spent eight days in a shared cell, and was later flown to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, according to The Guardian. He is appealing his final removal order but has been told a decision could take up to six months.
An ICE spokesperson told The Times that Read’s “criminal history includes convictions for possession of narcotic equipment, possession of liquor and resisting an officer.” The spokesperson said Read “was issued a final order of removal issued by an Orlando, Florida immigration judge from January 2011.”
Read entered the U.S. on Nov. 21, 2007, through Orlando International Airport on an F-2 visa as a dependent of an F-1 non-immigrant student, the spokesperson said. After a violation of the terms of the visa, Read was placed into removal proceedings.
According to The Times, as reported by The Guardian, Read was subject to a removal order in 2011 but at age 16 was granted DACA status, a policy that provides deportation relief and work permits to eligible individuals brought to the U.S. as children. The report said that at age 22, because of a conviction for possession of narcotic equipment, Read was unable to renew his DACA status.
The ICE spokesperson said that under President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Mullin, “nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the US.”