Dutch deportation after 40 years in the United States
After months in U.S. immigration detention, Dutch-born citizen أوين رامسينغ has been deported to Nederland (the Netherlands), a country he had not lived in for 40 years. He arrived on Sunday and is now staying at his father’s home in Utrecht.
The 45-year-old was born in Amersfoort and moved to the United States with his mother and sister at age five. He built a stable life there, owning a home, running a business, and working as a security guard. His wife and children remained in the U.S. during his detention.
His situation changed in September when he returned from visiting his father in the Netherlands. At Chicago Airport, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him over a drug conviction from when he was 16. He had served prison time as a teenager for selling cocaine, which U.S. authorities used as grounds for deportation.
During his detention, he was moved between several ICE centers without notice and lived under harsh conditions. In Chicago, he slept on the floor and received only one microwave meal per day. In El Paso, Texas, more than 70 detainees shared a few toilets and showers, and there were shortages of food and basic hygiene products. He reported frozen or expired meals, guards mocking detainees, and denied medical care, claiming he witnessed a fellow detainee die after being refused insulin.
A later court hearing offered no relief, as the judge reportedly reviewed neither his file nor his personal history. He was deported last Friday and said he felt both fear and grief during the flight, seeing photos of his wife and daughters for the first time in months. He does not plan to return to the U.S. and says he feels safer in the Netherlands, despite facing challenges such as learning Dutch and selling his U.S. belongings. His wife and daughter have since arrived in the Netherlands, with plans to move permanently once their paperwork is completed.