FOLKSTON, Ga. () – A family is pleading for answers as their loved one remains detained in an ICE facility for years, despite holding a green card.
Andre Lindsay’s mother-in-law, Carol Zarecki, told News 3’s Christine Queally, “It’s been a nightmare. It really has.”
In November of this year, Lindsay will mark three years in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.
Up until last week, Lindsay had been held at the Folkston ICE Processing Center since 2022.
Now, according to the ICE online detainee locator system, he’s been moved to Krome Detention Center in Miami, Florida.
“It just seems like the powers that be at Folkston, the judges, none of them wanted to hear any evidence,” Zarzecki said.
She said the family’s ordeal started back in 2022 when Lindsay spent time in a jail for charges that were later dropped.
“They dropped the charges for lack of evidence. They expunged them from his record. We were sure everything was resolved, and he would leave the county jail. But no, as soon as he – he didn’t even get the chance to come home, and ICE detained him,” said Lindsay’s mother-in-law.
According to Zarzecki, ICE picked him up even though he has a green card.
“He is not here illegally. He has never been here illegally,” she said.
Then, she said ICE cited drug charges from more than 25 years ago as the reason for keeping him detained, charges he’s already served time for.
To avoid deportation on the 1997 charges, Zarzecki stated that Lindsay was compelled to testify in a murder trial, an action that resulted in several men from his native Jamaica being deported.
“He fears for his life if he goes back to Jamaica because these men that got deported, they know that he is in ICE custody right now, and they are just waiting for him to come back to Jamaica,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lindsay’s family said his health has deteriorated significantly during his time at Folkston.
“Anytime they take him anywhere, he has to be handcuffed, shackled, belly-chained,” Zarzecki said. “They don’t give him the medications he need He can’t walk. He has to use either a wheelchair or a walker to get around now.”
According to his family, all Lindsay has now is a simple wish.
“He is a family man. He just wants to be home with his children and his grandchildren,” she said.
reached out to Immigration and Customs enforcement to get some answers about Lindsay’s case.
We have not yet received a response but Lindsay’s family said he has a hearing coming up Sept. 12.
