Immigration officials detaining, deporting American citizens

Marisa Taylor | Florence, Az | January 25

McClatchy - Thomas Warziniack was born in Minnesota and grew up in Georgia, but immigration authorities pronounced him an illegal immigrant from Russia.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held Warziniack for weeks in an Arizona detention facility with the aim of deporting him to a country he's never seen. His jailers shrugged off Warziniack's claims that he was an American citizen, even though they could have retrieved his Minnesota birth certificate in minutes and even though a Colorado court had concluded that he was a U.S. citizen a year before it shipped him to Arizona.

On Thursday, Warziniack was told he would be released. Immigration authorities were finally able to verify his citizenship.

The story of how immigration officials decided that a small-town drifter with a Southern accent was an illegal Russian immigrant illustrates how the federal government mistakenly detains and sometimes deports American citizens.


Tina January 24, 2008 - 11:27pm
( categories: News | USA: Domestic Issues )

and the RedWings don't have a prayer.

Gordon January 25, 2008 - 12:00am

This is the argument I always hear from conservatives on Prozac.

creativelcro January 25, 2008 - 12:13am

The photo gallery of his life is rather sad, quite aside from the immigration harrassment.

The map with the article lists the areas most likely to be involved in the deportations


1."George Washington did not cross the Delaware for Capitalism," -Shmuley Boteach.
2.The Dems haven't punished the GOP enough, so you're going to reward the Republicans?

nymole January 25, 2008 - 1:27am

was the "ICE doesn't make mistakes' part....
Rich!!

(btw, I *have* seen russians in the Sacramento area that looked not all that different from this man, but the ICE who questioned him were absolute idiots to take him at his word, when it was probably plain he was high as a kite)

IMO, the Dem candidate who is selected in the Convention should adopt a platform plank that specifies the disbanding of DHS, and firing of at least 1/2 of the present ICE...too many officious morons who don't do their jobs, supremely confident they can't be touched.

-5.75,-4.05
"We're all fucked. It helps to remember that." --George Carlin

justadood January 25, 2008 - 1:38am

part is

After he was arrested in Colorado on a minor drug charge, Warziniack told probation officials there wild stories about being shot seven times, stabbed twice and bombed four times as a Russian army colonel in Afghanistan, according to court records. He also insisted that he swam ashore to America from a Soviet submarine.
Court officials were skeptical. Not only did his story seem preposterous, but the longtime heroin addict also had a Southern accent and didn't speak Russian.

If his story had hit CNN, we'd probably be in the middle of WW3 (or 4) by now. Much more pizzazz then that silly Gulf of Hormuz confection. You'd have to slip in some audio that implies Iranian involvement, but hey, that's easy.

Chickadee January 25, 2008 - 9:17am

the ICE might want to fix the record of this detainee which, the story reports, still indicates he's been relocated to the "Soviet Union".

Of course this is incorrect. He was eventually released on good ol' US soil where he belongs. Also, though maybe they haven't yet heard about it in Arizona there hasn't been a "Soviet Union" for quite awhile now. It was in the papers and everything.

Chickadee January 25, 2008 - 9:28am

We're well on our way toward having our own version of Stalin...

Petronius January 25, 2008 - 3:37pm

was reading the comments. the braindead knuckledraggers are there, bitching at mcclatchy for publishing this story and "making the ICE look bad." this is a white southern american citizen, and they still can't admit there's a problem. that sort of shocks me.

chicago dyke January 25, 2008 - 1:44pm

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