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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.

“Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it,” said Thomas, in a recent interview from his home in Ireland, a few months after his release. Thomas asked to be identified by a nickname out of fear of facing further consequences with US immigration authorities.

Irish detentions up 300 percent
August 19, 2025 by Geoffrey Cobb
Many Americans who are viewers of Fox News, or other right wing media outlets, believe that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE, the federal agency that enforces federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration is only arresting and deporting dangerous and violent criminals, not the law abiding 11 million or so undocumented people whom the Trump administration has in its crosshairs.