Army veteran deported to Jamaica after 50 years in U.S., despite appeal pending
By Dan Raby
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ATLANTA (WUPA) — The family of a Georgia Army veteran is now fighting to bring him back to the U.S. after he was deported to Jamaica, despite having an active appeal.
Godfrey Wade had lived in the U.S. for more than 50 years before he was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. He remained in custody for nearly five months before his deportation.
His family and attorneys are trying to reopen Wade’s case, holding out hope that his case can be fully heard.
Wade came to the U.S. lawfully in 1975 as a teenager. He enlisted in the Army and served overseas.
That was his foundation, and he took pride in it and made us believe in the U.S. Army,” said his daughter, Emmanuela Wade.
After Wade was honorably discharged, he worked as a chef, tennis coach, and fashion designer.
His family says Wade’s life changed in September 2025, when he was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal in Conyers and arrested for driving without a license. Following that arrest, ICE detained him due to a 2014 removal order stemming from a 2007 bounced check and a 2006 simple assault charge. Wade’s attorney said that the assault charge involved no physical violence and that his client had paid the bounced check and related fines.
ICE cited a removal order from over a decade ago after officials said Wade did not show up for a hearing in 2014. Court records show hearing notices sent to an address used by ICE were returned as undeliverable. Wade’s attorney says the Covington man was unaware of the removal order until his arrest.
Loved ones have called Wade’s detainment “an emotional roller coaster” that has left him absent from the lives of his six children and three grandchildren.
“We’ve built an amazing life together, and to be separated from that is very challenging, especially since he did not have an opportunity to have his voice heard,” Wade’s fiancée, April Watkins, told CBS News Atlanta.
Georgia U.S. Rep. David Scott said his office formally requested last week that the Department of Homeland Security halt Wade’s deportation until he could have the case heard in court.
“Nonetheless, DHS deported Mr. Wade to Jamaica and did not notify my office until four days later,” Scott said in a statement. “Mr. Wade served this country honorably and was entitled to due process. His deportation is a continuation of the Trump Administration’s punitive and cruel immigration tactics, and I will continue pressing DHS for accountability.”
Speaking to CNN from Jamaica over the weekend, Wade said that he wants a chance to be heard.
“We are trusting in the justice system of my beloved country, the United States of America, that I loved so much and served,” he said.
Wade’s attorney says an emergency stay of the removal was denied, but an appeal remains pending.
CBS News Atlanta reached out to ICE for comment on Wade’s deportation and will update this story if they choose to respond.
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