US I.C.E tried to wrongfully deport US Citizen with VI roots
Mr Bukle, age 62, at the time the lawsuit was filed, was born in the [British] Virgin Islands, however, was automatically naturalized through his parents in the late 1960s when he was nine.
Bukle's cries of being U.S Citizen disregarded
Bukle was incarcerated in 2018 for two years for assault and possession of a firearm and while in custody, he told California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation staff that he was a U.S. citizen on numerous occasions, and it was noted in their files according to the Atlanta Black Star.
However, prison staff still labelled Bukle as a “potential I.C.E hold,” and in June 2020, however, while he thought he would be going home from prison to reunite with his son in time for Father’s Day, he was told that Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted him out of the country.
The Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California in late 2021 filed a lawsuit against I.C.E over Bukle’s wrongful arrest according to USVI-based Virgin Islands Daily News.
Ahead of the lawsuit, a government report had found the need for I.C.E to better train its officers to verify people’s citizenship. Mr Bukle ended up spending some 36 days at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak before the government acknowledged his U.S. citizenship as a result of the wrongful arrest.
'What they are doing is completely wrong' - Bukle
“Cases like mine are important because it helps agencies like I.C.E realize that what they are doing is completely wrong and helps others who are harmed by I.C.E know that there are people out there who care about their rights and will fight alongside them,” Bukle told The Bee in a statement through a communications person.
Civil advocates believe Bukle was subjected to the treatment because of his race and U.S. government has since settled a wrongful arrest lawsuit with Bukle on December 5, 2022, for $150,000.
Minju Cho, a staff attorney at ACLU of Northern California, said Bukle’s lawsuit “exposed how ICE continually violates people’s civil rights,” and how it works closely with the California prison system.
Bukle’s case, Cho said, also shows “how I.C.E transfers amplify racism within the criminal legal system and immigration system.” Bukle is a Black immigrant from the British Virgin Islands and derived U.S. citizenship from both of his naturalized parents.
Black immigrants significantly more targeted - Minju Cho
“We know that Black immigrants like Mr. Bukle are significantly more likely to be targeted for deportation: in the U.S., 7% of noncitizens are Black, but they make up 20% of those facing deportation after interactions with the criminal legal system, according to Black Alliance for Just Immigration,” Cho added.
Bukle said he’s now trying to heal and rebuild his life and hopes the settlement will provide some support for him and his family to move on.
Both of Bukle's parents were naturalized in March 1968, while he was a minor and already a permanent resident of the US, which under federal law automatically made him a citizen for over 50 years when he was set to be released on June 16, 2020.
See below video coverage of the story on TYT:
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23 Responses to “US I.C.E tried to wrongfully deport US Citizen with VI roots”
folks from neighbouring caribbean will not be considered a BVI citizen(island man...!!!!
real world
it is news because i give you thing to chat(run with that for now !!!!!
His parents where US citizens when he was only 9 so he's a US citizen.