ICE Held US Citizen for 9 Months Based on False Claim of Jamaican Birth

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained Phillip James, a 39-year-old man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, for nine months in Indiana. The agency is seeking to deport him to Jamaica, a country where officials say they have no record of his birth or citizenship. James, who also goes by the name Felibi Siagha-Coke, is currently locked in the Miami Detention Center in Bunker Hill, Indiana.

His legal team and mother state that James was born in Orange County, Florida, in 1987. He held a United States passport for 15 years, first issued in 2008 and renewed in 2023 under a court-ordered name change. A 1988 court document establishing his paternity matches the details on his Florida birth certificate, including his date of birth and his parents' residence.

ICE began proceedings to remove James in December 2025. Agents arrested him on January 5, 2026, after an immigration judge postponed his hearing. The agency relied on James' verbal claim that he was born in Jamaica and entered the United States illegally in 2009. Medical experts filed in court describe his insistence on being a Jamaican national as a delusion stemming from his mental illness. He has also claimed to be a descendant of a Lebanese royal family and the son of a former Jamaican prime minister.

The Department of Homeland Security disputes James' citizenship. The agency alleges that the birth certificate he submitted for his passport was fraudulent, though it has not provided evidence to support that claim. DHS officials told The Associated Press that the original passport was issued based on a "fraudulent birth certificate" but did not answer follow-up questions or provide proof. Jamaican authorities have confirmed they have no record of a person matching James' claimed identity.

Jacqueline Stevens, a professor at Northwestern University who studies ICE's wrongful detentions, said the case illustrates a pattern in how the agency handles citizenship disputes. "What's going on in these cases is that evidence that's consistent with deportation is treated as accurate and evidence that is inconsistent is treated as fraudulent," Stevens said. "This case is not a one-off. This is a feature, not a bug, of how ICE handles claims of U.S. citizenship."

James initially represented himself in court, claiming citizenship in Lebanon and Jamaica. He is now represented by the Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit law firm. On August 19, his lawyers filed a petition in federal court seeking his release. They are also appealing his removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The government has not acknowledged any error in its assessment of his status.

In a filing dated September 28, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Irvin described James as "a native of Jamaica and a citizen of Lebanon who entered the United States without admission." Irvin argued that James' claim to citizenship should be decided in immigration court rather than by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty is expected to rule on the petition soon.

The Miami Detention Center has housed up to 1,000 ICE detainees under a state-federal partnership. The arrangement pays Indiana $291 per detainee per day, a rate significantly higher than ICE's median bed cost. The facility has faced complaints regarding overcrowding and medical neglect, and at least two detainees have died while in custody. Governor Mike Braun's office declined to comment on James' case.

Deborah Fleischaker, a former ICE chief of staff, said the evidence supporting James' citizenship appears strong. She noted that while wrongful detentions happen, they should be rare and brief. "I would worry that in their quest for deportation numbers, he is in the machine," Fleischaker said.