this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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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.

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[–] swemg@sh.itjust.works 225 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Wonder how much it cost to keep him instead of just let him back to Ireland. Bunch of cunts

[–] AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works 151 points 2 days ago (3 children)

With these assholes it's not about money, it's about cruelty.

[–] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 41 points 2 days ago

Oh sure, but they'll continually claim until they're blue in the face that everything they do is about money. So they should be continually exposed as the financially irresponsible idiots that they are.

For the people where egregious human rights violations and terrorism aren't deal breakers, wasting money is. Frankly I don't respect their opinion, however, they also vote, therefore their opinion does matter.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

It's both. They are unequivocally profiting from the cruelty.

[–] kozy138@slrpnk.net 14 points 2 days ago

I still think it's about money, especially considering the size of the prison industrial complex. It just so happens that capitalism encourages cruelty when it's profitable.

[–] synae@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sure it cost the taxpayers something, but that went directly into the pockets of the for-profit prison company. So you see, this is actually great for the economy!

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[–] PlaidBaron@lemmy.world 178 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (8 children)

Daily reminder (especially to my Canadian homies) for the love of fuck do NOT travel to the US. They have made it clear they dont want visitors and it isnt safe for us to go there.

Do not risk it. Find any other safe country to visit and go there instead. Or stay home and see your own country.

Or if you want to visit North America, may I suggest Canada? Its nice here and we have cool things to see too. Also you wont be detained for no reason and live for months in a cage.

[–] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 67 points 2 days ago (26 children)

And may I suggest Mexico? It’s a beautiful country full of wonderful food, music, and people. North America is a shit sandwich, but the bread on both ends is quite magnificent.

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[–] The_v@lemmy.world 38 points 2 days ago (10 children)

I know several people with dual citizenship Canadian/U.S. who have moved from the U.S. to Canada in the past several months.

I just figured out a path for me to gain Mexican permanent resident and eventually Mexican citizenship if needed. It will take some time but with how this country is going, My wife and I need an escape route.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My partner and I made the decision to leave the day after inauguration. We're comfortably in Canada now.

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[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you have an escape route available, I suggest getting it prepared now. Hopefully you won't need it, but it's better to be prepared than not.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

If only the dumbfucks with the stupid slogans like "love it or leave it" knew just how difficult and costly it is to legally move to another country. Unless you have money, work in a high demand job or have family connections it's fucking difficult or close to impossible to do.

Most of the dumbfucks have no way to legally move to any other country legally.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 107 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

Just stupid all around...

"You overstayed your welcome, buddy. Now instead of letting you go home, we're going to keep you trapped here even longer."

Do you want them to stay or to go? Make up your friggin' mind! 😬

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They're trying to meet quotas, they don't give a shit about anything else.

[–] PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

But at this point why even bother meeting the quotas? Can't they just lie and tell everyone they deported 3 billion immigrants so that the racist rednecks will all cheer and smile?

[–] redwattlebird@lemmings.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's likely that both things are happening. I'm sure there are some that stretch the numbers but there are also others who revel in the cruelty.

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think people aren't realizing, they're racist af. They are actually doing nazi things all the fucking time now. They have actual concentration camps. The point is to get rid of anyone not white. Their lead nazi dude (white nationalist) is a Jewish person. It's just as insane as the nazis too.

Edit: Also, to fill their prisons to hand out prison contracts and get slave labor. This is also a money grab.

[–] aramova@infosec.pub 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The goal is to make people afraid. Fear is a feature, just like violence.

[–] AHamSandwich@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

While profiting off of it. Government contractors were paid for 100 days of related services for this poor fellow.

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[–] AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works 102 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia

See? That's the problem here.

Really, people, do NOT go to the US.

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 30 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Do NOT follow the country roads.

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[–] Blooper@lemmynsfw.com 13 points 2 days ago (6 children)

I'd be interested to see what Republican policies have done to the US tourism industry. I know it's taking a hit, but how much I'm not sure. I know I wouldn't come here by choice.

[–] teamevil@lemmy.world 36 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Completely crushed the industry...95 billion dollars loss projected this year

[–] redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And that's with people going on trips they planned a year ago. 2026 will see tourist towns turn into ghost towns.

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[–] qqq@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Gonna be even worse now too with the National Park Service cuts: there are so many foreign tourists at the parks. As there should be too! Our National Parks are amazing!

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Our National Parks are amazing!

For now.

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[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

People are only still going to the states because they had trips planned before the shit hit the fan. Once those trips are over, tourism to the states will be near zilch

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[–] Blueberrydreamer@lemmynsfw.com 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I'm in a red state tourist town and our overall visitation is down over 30%. That said, international visitors only account for about 3% of tourism in this state, so there's much more involved with that loss than just the international travel.

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[–] MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world 99 points 2 days ago

For your own personal safety, never travel to the United States.

Never travel to countries where the secret police just kidnap people off the streets.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 74 points 1 day ago (2 children)

"he's been here too long, keep him here longer!"

The most conservative thing I've read all day

[–] dropped_packet@lemmy.zip 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Detaining people isn't free either, we also paid to keep them here longer. The whole thing is immensely stupid.

[–] halowpeano@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago

Only if you believe their words, which you absolutely should not. A for profit prison management company got paid for 100 days detention when they would have gotten 0 if they let this guy leave.

Everything working out as planned.

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[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

You forget that the camps are private, so they need to keep him there to get paid. 100 days seems like about enough.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 65 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Every country should have travel warnings against visiting the Untied States

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

Canada doesn't even have any new warnings. They have the regular "gun ownership" and stuff they've had for years, but not a single word about the new administration. US travel is still listed as "green". Travel to the UK is "yellow" for fuck's sake.

Yes, according to the Canadian government, it is less safe to travel to the UK than it is to the US. And that's after admitting that about 55 Canadian citizens are in US custody at any given time.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadians-ice-detention-1.7577584

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[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 41 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (24 children)

And he was locked up before Trump took office.

Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it

This applies to all aspects of the US "justice" system. Once it has a hold of you, it's extremely hard to get out.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

While visiting his girlfriend Malone’s family in Savannah, Georgia, Thomas experienced a mental health episode. After a conflict in their hotel room, someone called the police. Though Malone didn’t support the charge, Thomas was arrested for allegedly “falsely imprisoning” her.

Yes, it was before, but, there is a little more to it. It was a mental health episode and the police were called. One would think they would just have an air marshall fly back home with him, But the US is really not good at mental health problems.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Regardless, imprisoning him for months is completely indefensible.

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[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 day ago (4 children)

You gotta be pretty in love to travel to a backwater nation like the US. Traveling to WV though, that's beyond insanity.

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Irish are non-white again. We're going back to the 1800s, baby.

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[–] Bloomcole@crazypeople.online 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's what happens when you visit banana republics

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

And folks here in the US are making jokes about the FBI demanding polygraphs and loyalty tests, overlooking the fact that this is happening (along with the vulgar overfunding of ICE) in anticipation of a greater and more extended fascist crackdown. It's the deliberate removal of any conscience from our governing system, and we all can look at history and understand why that's happening and what it means for the future.

Just don't come here.

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

"Armoured cars, tanks and guns! Came to take away our sons! But we must stand behind the men, the men behind the wire!"

Latinos and Irish united in their fight against immigration officials!

[–] breecher@sh.itjust.works 14 points 12 hours ago

Stop traveling to that shithole.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 1 day ago

At least this (probably) white guy, who speaks the same language, got to suffer on taxpayers' dollars. What a relief. /s

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