A Green Card applicant was detained by U.S. immigration authorities while returning from a work trip to the Texas border. According to Newsweek, Paul Henri Michel Kouame, originally from Ivory Coast and a self-employed worker, was detained on October 20 at a border checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, while returning from making a delivery in Brownsville. When questioned about his status, he showed his work permit and explained that his Green Card application was still pending. Detention at a border checkpoint after showing his work permit. In statements to Newsweek, the applicant explained that the agents asked him to confirm whether he was a citizen or a legal resident. When he indicated that his residency had not yet been approved and presented his work permit, the officers warned him that the permit did not constitute valid immigration status, and therefore they would proceed to detain him. In the same statements, the applicant said he felt “betrayed” and added: “I feel like I may never be welcome in this America.” He also denounced what he perceives as a pattern against people trying to legalize their immigration status: “We pay for the right to work and are harassed like this when we try to support our American families.” Following his arrest, Kouame was initially held overnight at a detention facility in Sarita and later transferred first to a center in McAllen and then to the Port Isabel Detention Center, where he remained for about two weeks. In total, he spent 16 days in custody before being released on bond after an initial hearing on November 3. Kouame described the detention conditions as cold and lacking in privacy. He said the cells were “freezing cold,” that “metallic” blankets typical of shock situations were provided, and that in the general population unit he shared space with dozens of beds with thin mattresses, limited clothing, and restricted access to bathrooms. He also noted that meals were scarce and repetitive, that phone calls required prepayment, and that visits were difficult to arrange.

A Long-Time U.S. Applicant with an Unresolved Case

According to Newsweek, Kouame has lived in the United States intermittently since 2003 on student and visitor visas. In 2013, he filed an asylum application that remains pending, and in February 2023, he applied for a Green Card. He also obtained a work permit and a temporary driver's license issued in the country.

During this period, as he himself mentioned, he was arrested and convicted in 2019 for driving under the influence of alcohol in Maryland, a misdemeanor under that state's law.

Kouame maintained that he has already “paid the price” for those mistakes, that he has rebuilt his life, and that he has sought to avoid problems with immigration. “I feel violated. I haven't done anything in this country to deserve this treatment,” he stated, while acknowledging that he arrived very young and “without proper guidance.”

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