Court rules man in ICE custody for nearly two years is US citizen: report

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly detained a U.S. citizen for nearly two years and tried to have him deported.

Levy Jaen, a father of four, was held in a New Jersey ICE detention facility as his attorneys argued with federal prosecutors over how immigration is passed from parent to child and how ICE determines "family," Buzzfeed News reported Monday, the same day the White House held an event honoring immigration agents.

Jaen, 46, was born in Panama, although his parents were living in New York at the time. His father later became a citizen.

His mother was allegedly having an affair at the time, and his original birth certificate lists another man. His mother stayed in the marriage, and Jaen spent his life with the man he considered his father.

Buzzfeed New reports that Jaen came to the U.S. in 1988 at the age of 15 on a visa and has lived in New York ever since, assuming he earned American citizenship through his father.

He was, however, was detained by Obama-era immigration officials in May of 2016 after he completed a two-year sentence for his second drug possession conviction.

ICE tried to have him deported for overstaying a visa and his drug charges.

His attorneys argued that he was born into a marriage where one of his parents - the man he always considered to be his father - was a U.S. citizen, so he was as well.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/court-rules-man-in-ice-custody-for-nearly-two-years-is-us-citizen-report/ar-BBMbRnT?li=BBnbcA1