By Michael D. Flowe
The mediasphere is currently exploding over news of Trump’s policy of separating asylum-seeking parents from their children. “How cruel,” goes the chorus: “How absurd!” With all due respect, Americans seem remarkably ignorant about the workings of their own government. Our immigration system has been both cruel and absurd for many years. I know this firsthand.
The following story is true. I have not embellished anything, because the truth needs no modifications. That’s what I’ve believed for many years, at any rate: that if enough people know the truth of a thing, they will make better decisions. I admit that Trump has occasionally caused me to question this belief, but I don’t really know how to live in this world if it turns out to be false.
I was born on June 6, 1971, in Athens, Greece (not 1970, as some of the government’s paperwork erroneously claims). Within three weeks of my birth, my mother, who was a British National, left Greece and returned to Manchester, England. I lived in the United Kingdom until I was eight, at which point my mother moved to the United States.
Originally, she arrived with a temporary visa, but she eventually met and married my step-father. I never met, or even knew the identity of, my biological father; my step-father was the closest thing to a “real” dad I ever knew.
At the age of 13, while in South Texas, both my mom and step-father were killed in an automobile accident. I was handed over to state custody, who raised me until I aged out of the system at 18. You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but life is not easy or safe in state care. Consequently, not long after my release, I picked up my first felony conviction for “unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.”
I entered the world of Texas prisons in August of 1989, where I remained a guest until 1999. Upon my release, I was detained by US Immigration and Customs, as I was not a US citizen. I was given a difficult choice: I could fight the deportation order or agree to be shipped off to either the UK or Greece. I didn’t want to leave. America had been my home for many years now, for most of my life. I hardly remembered the UK. Fighting the order, however, would require that I continue to spend years in detention. I’d already been locked up for a decade for a crime that, in most states, would have earned me probation, and I was understandably not enthusiastic about remaining in this awful, violent prison environment.
I ultimately chose to be deported, so that I could continue my life, albeit in a land that was foreign to me. If you had ever spent one day in the hell that is the TDCJ, you would understand my decision.
Unfortunately, neither Greece nor the UK would recognize me as a citizen of their nations. I think if I’d had the money to hire a solicitor to fight the issue in the UK, I might have had some success forcing them to recognize me. However, I was indigent and had no advocate. I therefore remained incarcerated for another 11 months – until I was released as a “man with no country.”
I soon picked up the broken pieces of my adulthood and made the best of it. I became a hardworking, responsible man and did relatively well for a blue-collar guy raised by the State. I married in 2002 and continued to report monthly to the immigration office as required. I continued to pay to update my work permit, and my employer complied with all federal laws by notifying the government of the nature of my occupation.
However, in September 2008, I was again detained by the US Government. They claimed I had violated the conditions of my release by failing to report to the immigration authorities that I had been travelling outside of the state for several years.
I had been employed as an OTR [“Over the Road”] truck driver and had delivered loads to all of the 48 contiguous states. My tax records (yes, immigrants pay taxes; something that certain politicians seem to spend a great deal of effort ignoring) indicated my occupation, and my employer regularly informed the Department of Homeland Security of these details. Somehow, though, the left hand did not report this to the right hand, and I returned to square one: limbo. Once again, neither Greece nor the UK would accept me as a citizen.
After over a year in detention, with no end in sight, I had an inmate help me file a § 2241 habeas corpus petition asking a federal judge to intervene on my behalf and to order ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officials to release me. (Details of this can be found here.)
In December 2010, more than two years after my detention, the detainer was removed. Everyone magically decided that I had actually told them what I was doing to earn my bread, and I retuned to my life in the US. I went back to trucking, the only work I knew well.
But then I sustained a serious injury at work, and the doctors prescribed Oxycontin for me. You may not know this, but Oxycontin was designed and marketed as a 12-hour drug. They kept repeating this in commercials over the years, even though studies were showing that many patients did not get pain relief for more than six hours. However, because the 12-hour duration was what was making them billions, the pharmaceutical company told doctors to raise the dose, not decrease the hours between doses. This means you are on a rollercoaster of sorts, with periods of far too much drug interspersed with periods of pain. So, you add more pills to make up the difference.
I became addicted. I didn’t know this had happened, though – I only knew that, if I was going to be allowed to stay in the US, I had to show I was a hard worker, and the pills kept me working. I’m not proud of this. I knew many people who were drug addicts, and I told myself I was nothing like them. I was ultimately arrested for having some oxycodone pills. They were mine – the prescription was in my name – but they were expired. I honestly just had too many scripts. Just too many. So, I was sent to prison on a drug charge.
I’m now back fighting the same detainer; only now Trump is president. Along with this detainer comes a “notice of intent”, stating that if I cannot find a nation to sponsor me, to allow me to be deported to their borders, then I will be subject to indefinite detention by the Federal Government. I had to ask the INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] agent to repeat this, because it wouldn’t click.
“You’re telling me that I might be locked up for the rest of my natural life?” I asked. He responded that ‘nobody’ wanted this, but it might be so if I didn’t find a home country. “For a drug crime? That’s what you are telling me? That I might have a life sentence, without parole, for some expired pharmaceuticals?” He didn’t want to talk to me after that. He just closed up his folder and left. I honestly wouldn’t have any trouble imaging this man tearing a screaming child away from their mother; compassion and understanding are not part of the bureaucrat’s worldview.
On 19 March, 2018, the US Supreme Court took up a case that looks likely to codify into law the ability to detain immigrants indefinitely. Once the court rules in favor of the government, all hopes of being released here in the US end for me.
I do not write this in order to receive your sympathy. I simply need for you to understand that when you continue to elect politicians who seem content to keep “kicking the can down the road” on immigration reform, this has real consequences for real people. I have never committed or been convicted of a violent crime. Yet, unless I am able to find a nation to accept me as a citizen, I will die behind these walls because of an addiction to pain medicine.
I am repeatedly told that I am a criminal, that I am worthless. But I have never been as cold or harmful to the US as it has been to me. I didn’t choose to come here. I didn’t choose to have my parents die. I didn’t choose to be tossed into the gladiator academy that is the foster care system. For nearly all my life, others have chosen for me, done to me. This is what the politicians cannot understand. They all come from better situations.
I’m not saying they were all born in manors but, for the most part, all of them lived settled childhoods – with food on the table and college guaranteed. They can never look at a mother fleeing Central America and understand her situation; how, after being punched by life so many times, these people are just stumbling around looking for a place to hide for a while. Such people are not “animals”, Mr President. Just like me, they’re people who didn’t win the birthplace lottery like you did, is all. The sad part is, most of us would be winners in your country if given half a chance. Americans used to understand this truth, they used to embrace it.
America might be in “decline”, as the Trumpeters are always claiming as their justification for another cruel, draconian policy. I don’t know. If it truly is fading in power, though, it is not because of a lack of resources or work ethic. I’ve travelled this place from shore to shore, so I know Americans aren’t poor or lazy. If it is in decline, however, it is because Americans have forgotten how to be human. And I live in such a place, so trust me when I tell you: there’s no future there.
4 Comments
Anonymous
October 30, 2018 at 1:15 pmFrom Home Office site, Registration as British citizens, stateless persons. https://www.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647407/registration_as_a_british_citizen_stateless_persons_v2_0ext.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwisgdSMr63eAhUGLVAKHRHKBKsQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw3A5A-VZovUJ4u3_RJyDtJ_
Anonymous
October 30, 2018 at 1:15 pmAnnie, thank you for making the effort. I don't know Mr Flowe but like you affected by his plight. I don't have legal training but from his history it may be worth revisiting his claim of citizenship by birth rather than seek asylum, for which his convictions may be barrier. I believe if his mother was BORN British, ie in UK from British parents, then her first generation descendant is also entitled to citizenship. This entitlement should not be dependent on criminal record. So if you're still willing to help, may I suggest also that you look for pro bono immigration or civil rights lawyers, as well as those who work on behalf of asylum seekers. That queue may be too long for Mr Flowe's case to arouse interest. Again I don't have expertise, just a friend of this site who cares. Bless you and good luck. Susan
Annie
October 24, 2018 at 8:07 pmMichael, your situation is an absolute nightmare. I feel claustrophobic just reading it, I can only imagine what it is like to live it. I have tried searching for UK organisations that might be able to help – those I’ve encountered so far only focus on people seeking asylum within the UK. But I will carry on and see what I can find.
You so clearly have warmth and a strong spirit. You should be very proud that the system and such cruelties (because life HAS been cruel to you, my friend) have not broken your good soul. I’m not religious in any way, so I don’t pray, but I want you to know I will keep you in my thoughts and I will have hope that good things are soon to come your way – it’s about time.
All the best. Hang in there.
Annie
A Friend
October 12, 2018 at 1:02 amThe following comment is from Thomas Whitaker: I was hoping I could impose on a couple of you to do some research for Mr. Flowe. I’ve never had cause to study immigration law before, and the law library thus far has not been found to be terribly helpful on the subject. What this man obviously needs is an advocate, preferably an attorney or an NGO that offers legal advice to individuals filing asylum claims in Canada and the European Union. I know such people exist so I’m hoping that few of you will agree to spend twenty minutes on Google compiling a list of such groups and their addresses. You can email them to Dina at dina@minutesbeforesix.com or mail them to Mr. Flowe directly at the address above (Please don’t send them to me, as I was moved from the Michael Unit to the Coffield Unit recently so my connection to my friends and acquaintances has been severed.) Please leave a comment below if you are willing to pitch in here. I spent time around Mr. Flowe and he’s one of the good ones. Thank you – Thomas Bartlett Whitaker