The Worker interviewed family members of Godfrey Wade, a 65-year-old restaurant worker who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for five months before being deported to Jamaica in February 2026. His fiancée and daughter described the conditions he experienced in ICE detention, the impact his detention and deportation had on their family, and ways people can support foreign-born workers targeted by ICE and their loved ones.
Tell us about Wade’s time in ICE detention.
Daughter: For the majority of Wade’s detention, he was at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, which is about a two and a half hour drive from where I am. I was able to visit him, but that’s a whole day trip. You have to make sure you’re there before other people, because there’s a visitors limit. So if you don’t make the cut, you wasted a trip. You have to have proper attire. I remember one time, a lady came in with ripped jeans and a tank top, and they turned her away. So on top of having to deal with your family member being detained, you also have to jump hurdles to visit them. And those visits are just an hour. You are in a cubicle with plexiglass in between you and your loved one. You only get one visit per week. It was tough, ’cause I’m very close to my dad.
ICE really does torture you, so that you can just deport yourself on your own. They really try to make it so that you can’t take it anymore, and you just go on your own. In my dad’s case, he was forced. He never signed paperwork.
That was one of the hardest days for me. I’m a teacher, so it’s hard to visit him. I would go on holidays, and it was MLK weekend. We drove up there, and they just flat out said he’s no longer here. And that’s all they gave. Then I asked, “What do you mean he’s not here? Can you give me more?” And they’re like, “He’s just not here. You’re gonna have to go online and check his status and see where he’s going.”
That was a really hard day.
After deportation, Wade arrived in Jamaica with only the clothes he was wearing and had to rebuild his life from scratch.
When he was deported, he immediately went to the hospital, and I believe he had pneumonia. So he had that for months. There was times where he was afraid to go to sleep. He had to sit up and sleep ’cause he was afraid that he wouldn’t wake up.
The food that they feed is, I can’t even describe it, it’s disgusting. So a lot of people really do rely on commissary. My dad would buy tuna and crackers, mayonnaise, noodles, different things to get protein and nutrients, and those wrapped up, it’s a very expensive ordeal. You have to pay to send messages, you have to pay to call, you have to pay to make video calls.
Fiancée: The conditions were terrible. He was in a pod with about 70 other men. He developed a severe cold since November. It just kept getting worse and worse. It took a lot of calling on my part to get him to see somebody. There’s a whole process, it’s not like you can just go and say, “Hey, I don’t feel well.” You gotta put in a request so that you can be seen. And when they finally started to give him the medication, and he started to feel better, they transferred him to a new facility. And so then he just regressed. He lost about 20, 30 pounds. It changed him.
Detention centers are terrible. The toilets don’t always work, so you’re having to wade through feces, because people are still gonna go to the bathroom. When he was at Richwood [detention center in Louisiana], there was the winter storm that came through. They were without water for 48 hours. No shower, no toilet. It’s an atrocity, what he faced during that time.
What was the hardest part for you and your family?
Daughter: Since I’m a mother, I think the hardest part was my children crying for their granddad. He was very present in their lives.
My daughter is an artist. My dad’s an artist too, and she drew this picture of him, and I had posted it through the detention app where he can receive messages. And they had declined it because it was flagged for some reason. Yes, it’s a little picture, but that could have brought a lot of joy to him.
I would definitely say the last couple of months were the hardest months of our family’s lives. We are a very close knit family.
I’m thankful that my dad is alive. There are so many families who can’t say that about their loved ones who passed away in detention. There were nights that I prayed that I would see my dad again. And it shouldn’t have to be that way.
What was Godfrey’s life like in the US?
Fiancée: Godfrey came at the age of 15, as a permanent legal resident. He served in the military and has six children. He’s a chef, he is a tailor, he’s an entrepreneur. He’s worked in Georgia’s state capitol in their cafe. He’s a tennis coach. Fifty-two years, he’s lived in America.
Godfrey is a very giving and caring person. He does his best to assist and help everyone. Even in the detention center, he was talking to people, to try and keep people’s spirits uplifted. He’s a great, great man, and that’s what I really want people to know. The Department of Homeland Security called him basically a violent criminal, and that’s just not accurate.
Daughter: My dad is a very positive person, even through detention.
My dad is an artist. In detention, he would draw portraits of detainees. This was his way of expressing his artistic ways with people, and uplifting them. There are a lot of very creative people in there that was detained in there. He got bracelets for all of us that were made in detention and people would use chip bags and weave them into bracelets.
My dad is a very strong man. He is not perfect, but my dad is definitely a learner and he grows from his mistakes. I’m very proud of who he is, ’cause detention could have easily broke him.
How can readers support Godfrey?
Fiancée: There is a GoFundMe that his daughter started. I would always ask, just continue to support that. You’re coming into a country they don’t have the resources to assist you. You are coming there with simply the clothes on your back. And you need resources to build your life.
Daughter: We also have a Change.org petition to collect signatures of people who support our cause in getting my father a day in court.
Note: The Worker supports the defense of workers from ICE terror and deportation but opposes the use of chauvinism in promoting Wade’s time in the US military to defend his case in the fundraiser and petition links above.
What can people do to resist these attacks?
Daughter: You cannot give up. You cannot have a defeatist attitude. You have to stay positive. It is very important for those who are family members of the person who is detained to stay in contact with them.
We have to be a collective together. When people are only wanting to take care of themselves, it’s not helpful to the greater good.
Fiancée: Speak up. We don’t know what is going to happen. But don’t hold it into yourself. Try not to be afraid to talk about it.
We need more people to just stand up and fight. Go to a rally, listen to people’s stories. We are not only fighting to get Godfrey back, but get others back as well.
Image: Godfrey Wade Credit: Courtesy of Wade’s family.
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