Free Republic

An Army veteran from Covington, Georgia, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 50 years faces imminent deportation. Godfrey Wade, a Jamaican-born veteran, has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for nearly five months. His attorney says an emergency stay of removal was denied, but an appeal is pending. Loved ones said Wade's years of military service should count for something. He's been missing from the home he shares with fiancée April Watkins, who said, "We've built an amazing life together, and to be separated from that is very challenging, especially since he did not...

It’s been 50 years since Godfrey Wade arrived to the United States from Jamaica at the age of 15 with his mother, moving to New York with a green card that granted him permanent residency. The Black man enlisted in the U.S. Army a few years later, spending eight years in the service, where he was primarily stationed in Germany before he received an honorable discharge. He then began a civilian life in Georgia while raising a family, working as a fashion designer, master tailor, tennis coach and chef over the years while staying out of trouble. That is, until...