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The Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era ICE policy that placed guardrails on immigration enforcement against non-citizen U.S. veterans
Kelly Rissman in New York Saturday 20 December 2025 17:55 GMT- Bookmark
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A Jamaica-born U.S. military veteran has spent the last three months at a Georgia detention center in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, a move that his fiancée described as the U.S. “turning its back” on him.
Godfrey Wade is a father of six children, a grandfather to three grandchildren, and a loving partner to his fiancée April Watkins. What Wade is not, Watkins told The Independent, is an “illegal alien” who “terrorizes Americans,” as the Department of Homeland Security has claimed.
The 65-year-old came to the United States when he was 15 years old. After 50 years in the country he loves, his future in the U.S. is now uncertain after police pulled him over in September for failing to use a turn signal while driving in Conyers, Georgia. Police arrested him after realizing he was driving without a license and ICE took him into custody shortly thereafter. KENS5 first reported his detainment.
He’s being held at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, ICE records show.
“I'm very upset. I feel that he came to this country as a teenager, chose to sign up for the army and serve,” Watkins, 49, told The Independent. “At this point, under this administration, it's like that doesn't matter.”
“I think it's a travesty. I think the country is turning its back on people that served,” Watkins said.
open image in galleryGodfrey Wade, a Jamaica-born U.S. Army veteran, was detained after a routine traffic stop, his family says. After 50 years in the U.S., he’s now at risk of being deported (GoFundMe)At 15, Wade moved to New York with his mother on a green card as a permanent resident. Not long after arriving in the U.S., Wade enlisted in the United States Army and earned commendations for good conduct and wartime service, KENS5 reported.
After his honorable discharge, he earned numerous college degrees and has worked in many roles, including as a master tailor, fashion designer, tennis coach, and chef, Watkins said. The pair got engaged in 2022 and haven’t set a wedding date yet, instead bogged down in paperwork to obtain Wade’s citizenship.
He was in the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship when he was put in ICE custody.
But DHS has painted Wade as a “repeat offender” who should be removed from the U.S.
“His criminal history includes domestic assault, criminal trespass, reckless conduct, deposit account fraud, violation of probation, multiple arrests for driving on a suspended license. In 2014, an immigration judge ordered him removed after he failed to show up for his immigration hearing,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told The Independent in a statement. “This repeat offender is now off our streets and no longer able to terrorize Americans."
DHS has vowed to remove the “worst of the worst” from the U.S. But a review of Wade’s history by The Independent suggests he is a far cry from that description.
From 1993 through 2022, he’s been charged numerous times with driving with a suspended or revoked license.
In 1994, he was charged with deposit account fraud, accused of writing a “worthless check” in the amount of $66.99 to Walmart. In January 2008, he was charged with deposit account fraud for delivering a bad check worth $500 to the Douglas County Tag Office. He was ordered to serve 12 months of probation.
open image in galleryApril Watkins, his fiancée, and Wade, who has been detained since September. Wade's family has launched a GoFundMe page to pay for his legal fees in his immigration case (GoFundMe)In August 2006, Wade was charged with simple assault, criminal trespass and reckless conduct after he threw pots and pans on the floor of his then-wife’s home as well as “slapping milk off the table” and throwing water on her after she handed him divorce papers, court filings say. He took a plea deal and was convicted on simple assault and reckless conduct; the judge sentenced him to 24 months of probation.
As for the immigration hearing, Watkins said he missed the notice to appear because it was sent to the wrong address.
“We have to stop judging people so harshly for things that they may have done in the past,” Watkins said, pleading for the government to stop painting all immigrants with a broad brush. “He’s a good person. And he’s in a detention center with other good people.”
Wade’s been held in ICE custody for almost 90 days — the first 12 of which he slept on the floor due to overcrowding, she said. Stewart, one of the largest detention facilities in the country, houses more than 2,000 people at a time, according to reports.
In his unit, toilets and showers are broken. He told her that there are three urinals for about 80 people.
Watkins visits Wade as often as she can, but it’s not easy. From her home, it’s a three-hour drive to the detention facility and another three-hour drive back. Visitors only get one hour to visit their loved ones in detention, just once per week. She is only allowed to speak to her fiancé through plexiglass, using a phone; no touching is allowed.
Visitations are on a first-come basis. She once had to leave because the wait was five hours long.
Still, she talks to her fiancé on the phone daily, estimating she’s spent $800 in calls to the detention center since September. She also contributes to his commissary. With him in the detention center, finances have become tighter since they are reliant on her income alone.
“This is nothing that you can be prepared for,” Watkins said.
Lawful permanent residents are eligible to serve in the U.S. Army. As of 2022, more than 730,000 U.S. veterans had been born outside the United States, according to the think tank Migration Policy Institute.
open image in galleryGodfrey Wade earned multiple college degrees and has worked in many roles, including as a chef, after being honorably discharged (GoFundMe)President Donald Trump set out to achieve the “largest deportation operation in American history,” a goal that has led to more than 2 million deportations this year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. As the Trump administration ramps up its immigration operations across the country, it also weakened ICE policy regarding the agency’s treatment of non-citizen veterans.
A 2022 ICE directive states that its agency’s policy is to “consider” a non-citizen’s U.S. military service when deciding whether to take civil immigration enforcement action, noting that honorable discharge was considered a “significant mitigating factor.” Generally, no immigration action will be taken against active duty non-citizen service members, the directive stated. In all cases, agents must also consider criminal histories when deciding next steps.
However, an April 2025 memo shows the Biden-era directive was rescinded. “ICE values the contributions of all those who have served in the U.S. military; however, U.S. military service alone does not automatically exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws,” the memo stated.
ICE will still generally not take immigration action against non-citizens serving in active duty, “absent significant aggravating factors,” it stated.
Regarding honorable discharge, the memo says it “does not necessarily prevent an alien with U.S. military service from being subject to immigration enforcement action,” the memo read.
It’s not immediately clear how many U.S. military veterans have been arrested.The Independent has contacted ICE and DHS for more information.
open image in galleryApril Watkins and Godfrey Wade got engaged in 2022. They’ve now been apart for more than 90 days, and she says every day without him is ‘challenging’ (April Watkins)In a September 2 letter, Senator Elizabeth Warren and dozens of her Democratic colleagues wrote DHS Chief Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top immigration officials demanding a list of non-citizen active duty service members and veterans who have been arrested and detained by ICE since January.
“We demand an explanation for why DHS is betraying its promises to service members who play a key role in protecting U.S. national security,” the Democrats wrote.
The deadline for that information was September 16.
A spokesperson for Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, who signed the letter, told KENS5 the officials have yet to respond: "Senator Warren's office has been following up every two weeks with no response.”
Since he’s been detained, Wade has been apart from his six children, three grandchildren and a fiancée, his family said in a GoFundMe page. The family launched the fundraiser to help pay the legal expenses in his immigration case.
His attorney has filed a motion to temporarily halt Wade’s deportation, but the family said they are waiting for a judge to review the case — a period that could span weeks or months. “We never imagined we would be in this position, but we know we can’t face it alone,” the family pleaded.
“It is very, very challenging every day to come home and not have him here,” Watkins said.
Despite months of heartache, Watkins said she still has hope. She has big plans for when he’s released from ICE custody: “We are going to get married and will resume to building our lives together.”
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