Orin Battice, centre, with Attorneys Yash Primo and Dwayne Braithwaite. Photo: News Source

Born in Guyana, but raised in the United States, Battice endured nearly three decades of emotional turmoil as he fought to reclaim his US citizenship after being deported in 1997.

His legal battle came to an end in late November when he finally reclaimed his U.S. citizenship, following a successful application to the U.S. Embassy in Guyana by the legal team at The Braithwaite and Primo Law Group.

His passport was issued in late 2025, closing a long and painful chapter in his life marked by deportation, disconnection, and a troubling lack of effective legal counsel.

Returning to the Carmichael Street, Georgetown office of his Attorneys recently, Mr. Battice told News Source that he was thankful that it was finally over.

“I feel excited and ecstatic. It has been a long, it has been a long time, 28 years,” Battice said.

Battice, now in his sixties, was born in Guyana to Sheila Hildaguard-Battice and Joseph Battice. Following the death of his father in 1966, his mother migrated to the United States, remarried, and later filed a successful petition for him to join her in New York. He arrived in the US in 1976 as a teenager and lived continuously there for over 20 years.

In 1977, his mother became a naturalized U.S. citizen and Battice automatically derived U.S. citizenship through his mother as a lawful permanent resident child under the age of 18.

But despite these qualifying facts, Battice was deported in 1997 following a criminal conviction.

He believes that his case to reclaim his citizenship was a straightforward one, but was lost in a web of legal missteps by the legal teams he had initially hired.  

“I always felt that I was removed [wrongfully] and without getting a full answer as to why I was removed,” Battice said, as he tightly held onto his newly issued US passport.

Though he felt crushed, Battice remained in Guyana for 28 years, and during the time he did his best to rebuild his life, remaining law-abiding and productive, even as he lived away from his family in the US.

His new Attorney, Dwayne Braithwaite, who is a U.S.-trained immigration lawyer licensed to practice in both the United States and Guyana, said this milestone is not just a personal victory for Battice, but is also a powerful reminder of the crucial role that zealous, persistent legal representation plays in ensuring justice is served.

Braithwaite and his team at The Braithwaite and Primo Law Group took up the Battice’s case after numerous attempts to re-establish his legal status failed.

Braithwaite’s dual-jurisdiction expertise and commitment proved to be the turning point in a case that had languished for years without resolution.

In 2023, the Law Group undertook a thorough two-year investigation, which commenced with gathering records dating back to the 1960s, including birth certificates, marriage records, naturalization documents, and immigration files. Their work culminated in a comprehensive submission to the U.S. Embassy in Guyana in May 2024, arguing that Battice had, in fact, been a U.S. citizen since 1977.

The embassy interviewed Mr. Battice and placed the matter under “administrative review,” a standard but often lengthy process. Then, in late November 2025, after nearly 30 years, Battice was contacted by the US Embassy and issued a U.S. passport, affirming that he is an American citizen.

Attorney Dwayne Braithwaite told News Source that when the firm was first approached by Battice, he was puzzled that the man had been deported despite being a US citizen.

“It puzzled me, so I knew that I had to start digging deep because what he was telling me from the onset, it didn’t make sense – he was a US citizen, why would he be deported? So we pulled records from several different sources,” Braithwaite said.

He said once the documents were secured, they were analyzed and a comprehensive application was submitted to the US Embassy.

Braithwaite said this is a textbook example of why zealous advocacy matters.

“Well, if I was representing Mr Battice at that time, that is exactly what I would have raised – he would have derived citizenship. I would have pulled every single piece of document, his record back to 1976, see when he came, when his mom became a citizen and those would have been my legal arguments. I don’t believe that was what was represented. So, I say that to say that effective representation is essential. Clients are depending on us who are trained to represent them, zealously represent them,” he said.

Attorney Braithwaite said it was not the law that failed Battice, because the law was always on his side. He said the failure came from ineffective representation.

The Attorney said without the relentless commitment to research, documentation, and advocacy, Battice might have remained in legal purgatory for the rest of his life.

Mr. Battice has since returned to the United States to start rebuilding a life that he was disconnected from more almost thirty years ago. He said he is grateful to Attorney Braithwaite and his team for their work in assisting him to close another chapter in his life.