The husband of an Irish green card-holder in immigrant detention is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda after voting for Trump in the last election.
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“It’s crazy that this is happening. It’s just crazy that this is even allowed in this country. That’s the problem. It shouldn’t even be thought that this should be OK,” Jim Brown told Fox affiliate KMOV.
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Brown’s wife, Donna Hughes-Brown, is an Irish citizen who moved to the U.S. when she was 11. The couple married eight years ago, Brown said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained Hughes-Brown in July when she landed in Chicago from a family funeral in Ireland, KMOV reports. The 58-year-old has now been in detention for over 30 days and faces deportation.
GoFundMe
Under federal law, U.S. legal residents may have their green cards revoked and face deportation if they commit certain crimes, including those of “moral turpitude,” which courts say “refers generally to conduct that shocks the public conscience as being inherently base, vile, or depraved.”
Court documents reviewed by KMOV revealed that Hughes-Brown once wrote a bad check for $25 a decade ago, which she paid back and served probation for. However, according to her husband, the government argued that her offense involves moral turpitude.
“I think it’s nonsense. I think it’s a blanket thing to catch everybody, to fill beds,” Brown said.
A DHS spokesperson told HuffPost, “A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused.”
“Lawful Permanent Residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with certain criminal convictions may be found inadmissible, placed in removal proceedings, and subject to mandatory detention,” the spokesperson continued.
In a GoFundMe launched to offset Hughes-Brown’s legal fees, an associate described the couple as “very strong supporters and helpers” of their local community in Missouri, oftentimes involved with multiple volunteer organizations and projects.
“They are good servers of God; humble people who are always willing to help, and kind friends that share knowledge and wisdom with anyone in need,” according to the fundraising page.
Brown told The Irish Times on Tuesday that he had been speaking to his wife in detention. However, he said that just recently, Hughes-Brown was moved to an isolation cell.
“[They] tried to feed her hot dogs and chilli mac … She probably told them after the fifth time they tried to serve her: ‘I’m not eating that,’” Brown told the outlet. “So they locked her up. I haven’t heard from her in three days now. It’s stupid.”
Brown told KMOV he reached out to his Republican representatives, Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley, as well as to ICE and the White House, but has not heard back. Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, also a Republican, sent Brown a letter telling him it was a “federal issue.”
“I want somebody to have the guts and the fortitude to stand up and say, ‘You know what? This is wrong,’” Brown said.
He told Newsweek late last month that he “100 percent” regrets his vote for Trump in the last presidential election.
“Trump advertised that he was getting criminal illegal immigrants and deporting them, which I don’t disagree with. But that’s not what he’s doing,” Brown said.This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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