Dutchman deported after living in U.S. for 40 years; Spent months in ICE detention
After months of detention in various ICE centers, Owen Ramsingh has been deported from the United States to the Netherlands. He arrived in the Netherlands, where he was born, but hasn’t lived for 40 years, on Sunday. He is devastated, but also a bit relieved, he told RTL Nieuws from his father’s house in Utrecht. “Here, I’m free.”
Owen had a hard time talking to the broadcaster after everything he’s been through, but he pushed through the grief and pain. “For everyone who is still held in such inhumane conditions. I feel obligated to tell their story too.”
Owen, 45, was born in Amersfoort. His mother took him and his sister to the United States when he was 5. He had a comfortable life in the U.S. He had his own business, worked as a security guard, and owned a home.
Things went horribly wrong in September. After visiting his father in the Netherlands, ICE detained him at Chicago Airport. The reason given was a drug conviction when he was 16. He had been caught dealing cocaine and spent several months in prison.
After being detained in September, Owen spent months in various ICE detention centers, often being transferred without being told where he was going. He didn’t see his wife and daughter at all. “Theoretically, they could visit me, but I refused. I wasn’t doing well, both physically and mentally, and I didn’t want them to see me like that.”
The conditions were inhumane. In the first detention center in Chicago, he slept on the floor, had no access to a shower, and was given a microwave meal once a day. At the next one in El Paso, Texas, he shared five toilets and six showers with 71 other detainees. There was not enough food, shampoo, or toothbrushes.
After two months in El Paso, he was transferred again. “I remember having to try to sleep on the floor with the air conditioning turned down to the lowest setting. The food we got was sometimes still frozen or expired,” Owen told the broadcaster. “And there were guards who laughed at us. They even denied us medication. I saw someone die before my eyes because he needed an insulin shot for his diabetes, but didn’t get it.”
Not long after, he was transferred again so that a new judge could look at his case. “But he didn’t give me a fair hearing at all. He didn’t even see my file. At that moment, I was in complete shock. Everything I had fought for my whole life was taken away from me. My family, my career, everything. I had to fight back tears.”
On Friday, he was finally deported from the U.S. “I was terrified, because I just wasn’t sure what was going to happen. It wasn’t until I was on the plane to the Netherlands that everything hit me.” He spent the flight looking through photos of his wife and his two daughters, the eldest of whom died in March last year, on his phone, which he had access to for the first time in four months.
Owen does not intend to return to the United States, he said. “I feel safe here,” he said. “Nobody deserves to be in this situation. I don’t want to live in the U.S. anymore; I just want to visit my daughter’s grave. I know I’m going to face many challenges in the coming period, like learning Dutch and selling all our possessions in the U.S., but in a way, I’m relieved that I’m safe now.”
His wife and daughter arrived in the Netherlands for a visit on Tuesday. The intention is that they will move here permanently once they have their paperwork in order.
