Grandma detained by ICE over bad check from 10 years ago, MO family says
.png "Donna Hughes-Brown has lived in the United States for almost 50 years and now faces deportation.")
A Missouri woman who has lived in the United States for almost 50 years is facing the possibility of being deported to a country she hasn’t been to since she was 11 years old, her family says.
On July 29, Donna Hughes-Brown was detained by federal agents at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago as she was re-entering the country following a trip to Ireland, according to the Mirror. Five days later Hughes-Brown, who is an Irish citizen, was transferred to a facility in Kentucky, where she is currently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, KMOV reported.
McClatchy News reached out to ICE requesting more information but did not immediately hear back.
Her family said in a GoFundMe that she was detained because of a bad check she wrote in 2015. The check was worth $25 during a time when Hughes-Brown was a single mother, KMOV reported. She paid it back and was put on probation, according to the outlet.
“Her original infraction was resolved and completely taken care of. This should NEVER have come back to haunt her in such an outsized and cruel way,” the GoFundMe page said.
Hughes-Brown came to the United States at 11 years old and has had a green card for over 37 years, the Mirror reported. She has four kids and five grandkids.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a lawful permanent resident may be denied reentry to the country depending on the type of crime they have been convicted of.
“Some of the most common grounds for revocation are fraud, theft, rape and related crimes, assault and battery, money laundering, drug dealing, and migrant smuggling. If the conviction is of a particularly serious nature, it is likely that you will be detained until the date of the hearing,” according to the agency.
Her husband, James Brown, told Newsweek that the ordeal is making him regret his support for President Donald Trump. Brown said he supports deporting illegal immigrants, but that’s not what is happening to thousands of people living in the U.S. legally, the outlet reported.
“We helped with supplies for Hurricane Helene. We do volunteer work all the time. We give to single mothers. We help out military families. We have a son who is a Marine, and this is our payment,” Brown told the news outlet.
Brown, who served in the military, is now trying to reach government representatives for help, to no avail, he told KMOV.
“You fought for these freedoms that are being taken away from her. Yep. Twenty years served. And it’s crazy that this is happening. It’s just crazy that this is even allowed in this country. That’s the problem. It shouldn’t even be thought that this should be OK,” he told the outlet.
On Aug. 26, Hughes-Brown was denied bond, according to Newsweek. She has a deportation hearing Sept. 17, the GoFundMe said.
