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- In December 2025, social media posts claimed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Godfrey Wade, a 65-year-old U.S. Army veteran originally from Jamaica, following a traffic stop.
- The Conyers Police Department in Georgia initiated a traffic stop on Sept. 13 after Wade failed to signal while changing lanes on a highway, according to records obtained by Snopes. During that traffic stop, he was arrested on suspicion of driving without a license.
- In a statement emailed to Snopes on Dec. 9, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that ICE arrested Wade on Sept. 18 and said he has a criminal history consisting of multiple charges.
- McLaughlin did not answer additional questions regarding Wade’s military service and detention conditions. Snopes also contacted CoreCivic, a private prison company that runs the detention center where Wade is reportedly housed, for a response to claims about his conditions and awaits a reply.
- Wade, who is originally from Jamaica, enlisted in the U.S. Army as a young man, first serving in Aschaffenburg, Germany, in the 1980s, his family said in a GoFundMe campaign. The fundraising campaign included a photograph appearing to show Wade in an Army uniform. Snopes was unable to independently confirm his military service.
- We asked the Army to confirm Wade’s service and the dates he served. This story will be updated if we hear back.
- Wade and his fiancée, April Watkins, told local news outlet WXIA they were in the process of securing Wade’s citizenship.
In December 2025, social media posts claimed (archived here, here and here) that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Godfrey Wade, a 65-year-old U.S. Army veteran originally from Jamaica, following a traffic stop.
The posts further claimed that Wade had already spent several months in a detention facility and was forced to sleep on the floor next to sewage water.
Multiple Snopes readers searched our website to verify the claims about Wade’s detention.
The Conyers Police Department in Georgia initiated a traffic stop on Sept. 13 after Wade failed to signal while changing lanes on a highway, according to records obtained by Snopes. During that traffic stop, he was arrested on a charge of driving without a license.
In a Dec. 9 statement emailed to Snopes, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that ICE arrested Wade on Sept. 18 and said he has a “criminal history” consisting of multiple past charges. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the cabinet agency over ICE.
McLaughlin added that an immigration judge ordered Wade’s removal in 2014 after he failed to appear for a hearing. Her full statement was as follows (emphasis hers):
On September 18, ICE arrested Godfrey Oliver Wade, a criminal illegal alien from Jamaica. His criminal history includes domestic assault, criminal trespass, reckless conduct, deposit account fraud, violation of probation, multiple arrests for driving on a suspended license. In 2014, an immigration judge ordered him removed after he failed to show up for his immigration hearing. This repeat offender is now off our streets and no longer able to terrorize Americans.
Snopes contacted a woman named Christian, who identified herself on social media as Wade’s daughter, for comment on McLaughlin’s statement and await a response.
McLaughlin did not answer additional questions about Wade’s case, including whether ICE considered his military service when detaining him and if he was denied a bed at a detention center — a detail that people identifying themselves as his daughters shared in social media posts (archived here and here).
Wade’s reported military service and background
According to a GoFundMe campaign created by Wade’s family (archived), he was born in Jamaica and moved to New York with his mother as a teenager. At that time, he was a permanent resident, or green card holder, the fundraising campaign stated.
Wade reportedly enlisted in the U.S. Army as a young man, first serving in Aschaffenburg, Germany, in the 1980s. Noncitizens can join the Army if they have a green card, and can speak, read and write English fluently. Military service does not automatically grant a person U.S. citizenship, but it can expedite the naturalization process.
According to the GoFundMe campaign, Wade left the service with many recognitions and later pursued a career in hospitality, working as a chef at Braves Stadium and the Georgia State Capitol.
The campaign included a photograph appearing to show Wade in an Army uniform. However, Snopes was unable to independently confirm his military service. We asked Christian for any records that could verify his service, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
We also asked the Army to confirm Wade’s service and the dates he served. This story will be updated if we hear back.
Wade, family describe detention conditions
Wade and his fiancée, April Watkins, told local news outlet WXIA they were in the process of securing Wade’s citizenship. Watkins said they had an attorney but the cost was “astronomical.”
According to the GoFundMe campaign, Wade experienced “days of inhuman conditions” at the Atlanta ICE detention facility before he was transferred on Sept. 21 to Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center, one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the country. He was allegedly “denied a bed for weeks” due to what his family described as overcrowding. Wade told WXIA there were only two working urinals for his entire pod of 80 people and that “sewage water” was on the ground.
Snopes contacted CoreCivic, a private prison company that runs the detention center, for a response to these claims and will update our story if we receive a response.
Wade told WXIA he went 55 days without a case agent and had not yet appeared before a judge. His family said in the GoFundMe campaign that “there is a very real possibility” Wade could be deported, though his attorney has filed a motion to temporarily pause the process.
Wade also said a notice directing him to appear before a judge in 2014 was mailed to the wrong address.
Despite his circumstances, Wade told WXIA that he has no animosity toward the U.S.
“If I didn’t believe this country is still great, I wouldn’t want to stay here,” he reportedly said. “I shed my blood for this country. I can live with myself if I just have a day in court so somebody can hear my story.”
Wade’s case follows rescinded ICE directive
Wade’s case comes after the Trump administration rescinded a 2022 Biden-era ICE directive (archived) instructing immigration authorities to treat a noncitizen’s military service as a “significant mitigating factor” when considering deportation. The Trump administration kept certain protections for active-duty service members in place, but got rid of others for some noncitizen veterans with its April 2025 memo rescinding the earlier directive (archived).
Watkins told WXIA she hopes sharing Wade’s story might inspire legislative action to restore deportation protections for noncitizen veterans.
“If you served this country, you deserve a chance to stay in this country,” Watkins said. “That is the hope for not only him but for any veteran who sits in a detention center. Look at their service that they gave this country and take that into consideration.”
In September 2025, members of Congress wrote a letter to Homeland Security officials (archived) seeking data on how many noncitizen service members, veterans and immediate family members had been arrested, detained, and/or placed in removal proceedings since the start of Trump’s second term.
