After spending the last 35 years in the United States, including two tours of duty in the military, Mark Isaacs, 52, found himself on a plane back to Guyana.
But Isaacs’ return was not voluntary. He was convicted of fraud and served over three years in prison but maintains that the amount of money involved did not make him liable for deportation.
He also claims that by virtue of the fact that he served in the US army twice, for a total of nine years, he qualified for citizenship, but is accusing Guyanese diplomatic officials based both here and in the United States of failing to help him.
Isaacs, who describes himself as “strictly American,” was among 21 Guyanese who touched down at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri on August 6 under heavy security.
The former Real Estate Broker told Stabroek News that in 2006 in Illinois he and two others were charged with fraud of US$1,000 or more, after he bought cell phone minutes from a friend who discovered how to steal them. “I know it was wrong but I still buy it,” he admitted.
He added that his lawyer advised him not to plead guilty as if he did he would have been deported. As a result, he said that he maintained his innocence while his co-accused pleaded guilty.
While describing his case as “legally technical,” Isaacs said that although he was charged with fraud of US$1,000 or more, a jury convicted him of fraud of US$1375. He said the amount is below the US$10,000 that would have made him liable for deportation.
Issacs said he was released from prison in 2011 and was immediately arrested by immigration officials and spent 22 months in an immigration detention centre before he was deported to Guyana.
He noted that at his immigration hearing, the judge told him that based on his military service, he automatically qualified for citizenship. (Isaacs, who left Guyana at 17, enlisted in the US Army and served from 1981 to 1985. After a break of almost a year, he enlisted again and served from 1986 to 1990.) As a result, he said that the judge instructed that he be taken back to immigration so that he could have gotten his citizenship.
According to Isaacs, that was when his troubles began. He explained that he passed the citizenship test but hit a hurdle after the prosecutor in his fraud case refused to hand over his conviction documents to the immigration officials so that they could have seen what he was charged with.
“I then sat in ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] for two years and the American Embassy and the Minister of Foreign Affairs they said that they would not issue any travel documents for me,” he said, explaining that this was because the prosecution refused to hand over his conviction records.
He said that without the documentation, his citizenship could not have been approved. As a result of this development, he said he filed a lawsuit in June of this year and that matter is supposed to be called before the court soon.
A report published in June in the online edition of the Beacon News said court documents provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office showed that in April, Judge Joan Lefkow denied Issacs’ request for the court to issue subpoenas to produce the exhibit in question.
“In her ruling, Lefkow stated that upon his 2008 sentencing, Isaacs was ordered to make restitution to the victim of his crime in the amount of US$573,000, and that the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment in January of 2010. She also noted that “neither before this court at sentencing nor on appeal did Issacs challenge the court’s determination of the loss amount as exceeding US$400,000,”” the report said.
It also quoted a source familiar with the case as saying that her office was told by the Attorney General’s Office there was no missing page and that the evidence had only been mislabeled.
Would have been a free man
According to Issacs, after he was detained by immigration, he was in contact with an official of the Guyana Consulate in Washington. He said that after his letters to her, the official responded twice to him and he showed two letters that were sent to him. He said that he was given hope that he would get help but the official later informed him that America was putting pressure on them to charter a plane and that he would be included among the passengers since he did not have a stay. Issacs was shocked. “I said to her, ‘But I have gotten letters from you saying that you were trying to help me out….’ She got mad and she got defensive,” he said.
Last month, he was transferred from Illinois to Louisiana where he met the other 20 Guyanese deported here. He recalled that four immigration officers “grabbed me and make me do the fingerprints because I refuse to sign.” He recalled staying in immigration’s custody for another week before he and the other deportees were placed on a plane. He said he was taken off of the plane “because I had a letter stating that I have an immigration motion with the board of immigration” and he explained that once there is an immigration motion, a person is not supposed to be detained. However, he was later returned to the aircraft.
Isaacs said when he arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, he was asked questions before he and the others were transported to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary. Before he left, police gave him a letter which stated that he must report there on the 12th of every month.
He said that he and his American-born wife, who is a dialysis nurse, have three children, ages 18, 12 and nine. He says, his wife and children are devastated by his deportation. He also explained that he had some relatives living in Guyana but noted that he had not returned to Guyana often.
Isaacs said he turned up at Eve Leary yesterday with the hopes of getting an ID but was told that he could get none since he had arrived in Guyana with no travel documents. He said that he was told that this was so because he was deported here on an emergency basis.
He said that he needs an ID so that he can set up a business here and earn a living for himself.
He said that he had a court date approaching and he was unsure what will happen since he would not be there.
At this point, he said that he is mad because the Foreign Affairs Minister, the ambassador and those at the Consulate in Washington have his paperwork and were well aware of the circumstances surrounding his case. He also laid the blame at the feet of the prosecutor in his fraud case, claiming he does not want him to become a citizen. “I was in ICE custody. ICE was about to let me go,” he said, while explaining that had those conviction documents been handed over he would have been a free man.
