Veteran Now Fights Deportation, Accused of Lying on Passport
MIAMI A veteran of both the Army and the Navy who served with distinction in Iraq and at Guantánamo Bay has spent the last month in federal lock-up here because the government wants to deport him.
Not only did he lie on a passport application, prosecutors say, but he was never even a citizen.
But a lawyer for the man, Elisha L. Dawkins, 26, has a different story, one that begins with Mr. Dawkinss arrival here from the Bahamas as an infant. He was raised to believe he was a citizen, his lawyer contends, something the state and federal authorities did not challenge during his seven years in the military.
The United States Attorneys Office in Miami declined to comment. The only crime Mr. Dawkins is charged with is lying on a 2006 passport application that asked if he had ever applied for a passport before. He checked no. The government claims the answer is yes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/us/24veteran.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
MIAMI A veteran of both the Army and the Navy who served with distinction in Iraq and at Guantánamo Bay has spent the last month in federal lock-up here because the government wants to deport him.
Not only did he lie on a passport application, prosecutors say, but he was never even a citizen.
But a lawyer for the man, Elisha L. Dawkins, 26, has a different story, one that begins with Mr. Dawkinss arrival here from the Bahamas as an infant. He was raised to believe he was a citizen, his lawyer contends, something the state and federal authorities did not challenge during his seven years in the military.
The United States Attorneys Office in Miami declined to comment. The only crime Mr. Dawkins is charged with is lying on a 2006 passport application that asked if he had ever applied for a passport before. He checked no. The government claims the answer is yes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/us/24veteran.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss