It all began in August 2008 after Lyttle was thrown in jail at the Neuse Correctional Institution in Wayne County, NC, for inappropriately touching a woman’s backside at a halfway house after a stay in a mental hospital. North Carolina prison officials claim Lyttle told them he was born in Mexico, which prompted the state to notify ICE of his incarceration. An ICE agent interviewed the 31-year-old man, who is bipolar and slightly retarded, and got him to sign a statement claiming Lyttle was really Jose Thomas, a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. when he was age three. Lyttle says he did not claim to be Mexican or Jose Thomas, and instead gave ICE his Social Security number and the names of his family members.

 

Next thing he knew, in December, Lyttle was dropped off in Mexico. But Mexican officials didn’t want him since he didn’t belong in Mexico, and they bounced him to Honduras, which in turn deported Lyttle to Guatemala. After spending some time in homeless shelters, Lyttle found the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, where officials realized the mistake and arranged for his return home.

 

And what happened upon arriving back in the states? Immigration officials at the Atlanta airport tried to deport him again. Fortunately for Lyttle, the ordeal was not repeated, and he was reunited with his family.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Feds Wrongly Deport Citizen Living in N.C. (by Kristin Collins, Raleigh NC News & Observer)

Mark Lyttle In Hiding From ICE (by Jacqueline Stevens, States Without Nations)

U.S. Kidnaps Mark Lyttle, Leaves Him Stateless in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala (by Jacqueline Stevens, States Without Nations)