In America, being born on this soil should mean protection, dignity, and recognition. But for Black Americans, that promise has always been conditional. From the plantation to the prison, and now the deportation van — our citizenship has been questioned, ignored, and erased.
The United States is deporting its own citizens. Let that sink in. This is not a glitch in the system. It is a reflection of it.
The Case of Peter Sean Brown: A Black Man Nearly Disappeared by ICE
Peter Sean Brown, a Black man born in Philadelphia, was arrested in Monroe County, Florida, over a probation violation. Despite repeatedly providing identification and affirming his U.S. citizenship, jail officials handed him over to ICE. He was nearly deported to Jamaica — a country he had never lived in, to which he had no legal ties.
Only when the ACLU intervened was his deportation stopped. But we must ask: if he hadn’t had the privilege of advocacy and visibility, would we even know his name today?
This isn’t an isolated incident. It’s part of a systemic pattern. And it’s not the first time our government has ignored citizenship when the face is Black.
Wilter Blanc: A U.S. Citizen Deported to Haiti and Tortured
Wilter Blanc was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, making him a U.S. citizen by law. But ICE deported him to Haiti, where he was beaten by police, homeless, and denied any legal rights. His life was shattered by a system that never saw him as belonging.
What happened to Wilter was not an accident. It was a deliberate act of erasure based on his race, his island birthplace, and his vulnerability.
Thousands of Black Citizens, Silenced and Forgotten
According to a 2024 report by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch:
Over 6,700 U.S. citizens have been detained or deported since 2012.
More than 60% were Black or Latino.
Many were from U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Some spent 240+ days in detention before proving their citizenship.
In many of these cases, citizenship documents were either ignored, disbelieved, or simply never reviewed. And the longer someone was detained, the harder it became for them to access legal help, contact family, or advocate for themselves.
This Is Not New. It Is the Continuation of a Legacy.
From the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it legal to kidnap free Black people and sell them South, to Jim Crow laws that criminalized Black existence, the American legal system has long been used to deny Black people their rights.
ICE is simply the latest enforcer in a long line of institutions that have policed our bodies, erased our identities, and silenced our voices.
Even during Reconstruction, when Black Americans were promised citizenship and equal rights under the 14th Amendment, federal and state governments allowed the creation of Black Codes that are laws that effectively re-enslaved Black citizens through criminalization.
Now, we see that same legacy in detention centers, ICE raids, and mistaken deportations.
Due Process Denied. Constitutional Rights Ignored.
The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship and equal protection under the law.
The 5th Amendment promises due process and liberty.
The Immigration and Nationality Act makes it illegal to deport U.S. citizens.
Yet in case after case, these protections vanish the moment Blackness enters the equation. Citizens are detained without hearings. Lawyers are denied. Families are separated. People are deported and left to suffer in foreign countries, cut off from everything they know.
Who Is Responsible?
ICE routinely detains without verifying citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security enables unchecked authority.
Local jails alert ICE based on appearance, not fact.
The federal government has failed to create systems of accountability.
White Refugees Welcomed While Black Citizens Are Erased
In 2023 and 2024, dozens of white South African families were granted asylum, citing fears of reverse discrimination. Meanwhile, Black Haitian and Congolese migrants were detained, separated, and deported en masse.
This contradiction reveals the core hypocrisy: whiteness is protected. Blackness is punished.This mirrors past practices where European immigrants were processed through Ellis Island and offered opportunity, while Black migrants from the Caribbean or Africa faced quotas, suspicion, and exclusion.
What We Must Demand
Pass the Protect Citizens from ICE Act, ensuring no deportation without full verification.
Demand independent oversight of ICE and DHS.
Protect citizens from wrongful detention with automatic legal counsel.
Restore and expand due process rights across immigration courts.
This Isn’t About Borders. It’s About Belonging
Citizenship in America is supposed to be a promise — but for Black people, it’s a fight. A fight for recognition, for protection, for basic dignity. From slavery to Jim Crow to modern deportations, the system has shown that a birth certificate means little when your Blackness is treated as a threat. Until our rights are upheld with the same force as they’re stripped away, the law remains biased, not broken, and justice remains unfinished.
We must tell the truth. We must fight like lives depend on it. Because they do.
