In late June 2025, amid the Trump administration's push to remove immigrants illegally residing in the U.S. en masse, social media posts claimed a U.S. soldier's son was deported to Jamaica, even though he had never been to the country.
The man, identified as Jermaine Thomas, was born on a U.S. Army base in Germany, according to the posts.
Jermaine Thomas, the son of a U.S. soldier, was deported to Jamaica — a country he's never even been to ?
Born on a U.S. Army base in Germany in 1986, his father served 18 years and became a U.S. citizen. Now, his son's been kicked out of the country he called home. pic.twitter.com/z6aynjfi9v— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) June 27, 2025
Multiple Snopes readers also emailed us and searched our website for information about whether the claim was true.
Thomas was indeed deported to Jamaica in May 2025. Therefore, we've rated this claim true.
The claim about Thomas' deportation stemmed from an article published by The Austin Chronicle on June 4, 2025.
The Chronicle interviewed Thomas, who was "at the center of a case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court" considering whether a child born to a U.S. citizen father deployed on a U.S. Army base in Germany should receive U.S. citizenship. He was "escorted onto a plane with his wrists and ankles shackled" the week before the article was published, according to the Chronicle.
"He arrived in Jamaica, a country he'd never been to, a stateless man," the news outlet reported.
Snopes confirmed through federal court records that Thomas' father was a U.S. Army veteran and that Thomas was born on a military base in Germany.
Both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged Thomas' deportation in statements provided to Snopes.
ICE said, in part, that the agency "removed Jermaine Amani Thomas, a 38-year-old Jamaican national and violent criminal alien, from the U.S." on May 28, 2025.
A spokesperson for DHS called Thomas a "violent criminal illegal alien from Jamaica who had final orders of removal" and said he was "deported back to his home country."
We broke down The Austin Chronicle's report and what we know about the legal proceedings prior to Thomas' deportation.
The Austin Chronicle details Thomas' deportation
Thomas was taken to a plane bound for Kingston, Jamaica, in late May 2025, according to the Chronicle's report. He is not a citizen of Germany (where he was born), the United States or his father's birth country of Jamaica, the news outlet reported.
Thomas "spent most of his life in Texas, much of it homeless and in and out of jail," according to the Chronicle. His father, who had retired from an 18-year career in the U.S. military, died from kidney failure in 2010, Thomas told the outlet.
During a phone interview with the Chronicle from a hotel in Kingston, Thomas was quoted as saying:
If you're in the U.S. Army, and the Army deploys you somewhere, and you've gotta have your child over there, and your child makes a mistake after you pass away, and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be okay with them just kicking your child out of the country? It was just Memorial Day. Y'all are disrespecting his service and his legacy.
Thomas told the Chronicle that everything began when he was evicted from his apartment in Killeen, Texas. While Thomas was gathering his belongings in his yard, he tied his Rottweiler's leash to a pole.
Police reportedly arrived and told Thomas they'd received a call about a dog being tied up, according to the Chronicle. Thomas said he was ultimately arrested for suspected trespassing, a misdemeanor.
Thomas went to the Bell County Jail, where he said "a court-appointed lawyer told him he could be sitting in a cell for eight months if he wanted to take the case to court," the Chronicle reported.
After spending about 30 days in jail, Thomas said he signed paperwork for conditional release. But instead of being released, Thomas was transferred into ICE custody — first to a detention center in Waco, Texas, and then to a detention camp in Conroe, Texas, according to the Chronicle.
Thomas said he spent two and a half months incarcerated at the Conroe facility. A deportation officer reportedly told him repeatedly "that he had a very unique case, and that it was out of their hands in Texas, and now in the hands of 'Washington, D.C.,'" the Chronicle reported.
Thomas said he called DHS and the federal government's Office of the Inspector General "to file a report about what he thought was an unlawful detention."
Later, Thomas was reportedly grouped with Spanish-speaking deportees from Nicaragua and placed on a deportation flight bound for Kingston, Jamaica, on May 29, according to the Chronicle.
Thomas told the news outlet that an ICE officer admitted they lacked records for many of the passengers, allegedly saying, "I don't have records for more than half of these people. There's something wrong."
ICE, DHS acknowledged Thomas' deportation
A spokesperson for ICE told Snopes that the agency "removed" 38-year-old Jermaine Amani Thomas from the U.S. on May 28, 2025. The agency called him a "citizen of Jamaica" and said an immigration judge ordered his removal from the U.S. in December 2013.
The ICE spokesperson's full statement is as follows:
Thomas is a dangerous criminal alien who has been convicted of numerous criminal offenses including three convictions for drug possession, two convictions for driving while intoxicated, and one conviction each for assault, theft, evading arrest, robbery, and intimidation. Dangerous criminal aliens like Mr. Thomas have no place in our communities and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not apologize for upholding our nation's immigration laws and protecting law-abiding residents from aliens like him who directly threaten their safety.
ICE removed Jermaine Amani Thomas, a 38-year-old Jamaican national and violent criminal alien, from the U.S. May 28. Thomas is a citizen of Jamaica who was ordered removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge from the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review Dec. 13, 2013. That decision was affirmed by both the Board of Immigration Appeals and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
DHS provided the following statement attributed to Tricia McLaughlin, the agency's assistant secretary for public affairs:
Jermaine Thomas is a violent, criminal illegal alien from Jamaica who had final orders of removal and was deported back to his home country. Thomas spent nearly two decades posing a significant threat to public safety. Since 2007, he racked up a long and serious criminal record, including convictions for robbery, intimidation, drug possession, assault causing bodily harm to a family member, DWI, and theft.
Dangerous criminal aliens like Mr. Thomas have no place in American communities. Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, ICE will not standby and turn a blind eye to aliens that endanger Americans.
Federal appeals court found Thomas is not a US citizen
The question of Thomas' citizenship status had made its way to a federal appeals court nearly a decade earlier.
According to court records filed in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2015, Thomas was born Aug. 9, 1986, at a U.S. military base in Frankfurt, Germany. His father, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1979 and became a U.S. citizen in 1984, was a member of the military serving on the German base. His mother was a citizen of Kenya.
Thomas was admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident, also known as a "green card" holder, in July 1989 and "his visa form listed his nationality as Jamaican," court records said.
In 2013, DHS issued Thomas a Notice to Appear and Additional Charges of Inadmissibility/Deportability. The additional charges notice "alleged that Thomas was a citizen of Jamaica and had three criminal convictions in the United States." It also said Thomas was subject to deportation or removal because of his criminal convictions, according to the court records.
Thomas argued he was a U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment because he was born on a U.S. military base abroad, and therefore could not be subject to removal.
The 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship. Specifically, it says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
The 5th Circuit ruled against Thomas, finding that he is not a U.S. citizen and is therefore removable from the country.
"After a careful review of the decisions of the Supreme Court, other circuit courts of appeals, and our own court, we hold that Thomas is not a citizen, because the United States military base where he was born, which is located in modern-day Germany, was not 'in the United States' for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment," court records said.
Though Thomas' father was a naturalized U.S. citizen, the court added "it is undisputed that Thomas was not a statutory birthright citizen because his father did not meet the physical presence requirement of the statute in force at the time of Thomas's birth."
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Thomas' case, meaning the lower court's decision remained in effect.