Fidel Napier spent more than a decade making peace with a crime in his past, until one day it upended his life.
At 20, Napier pleaded guilty to selling cocaine on a street corner in Camden, an offense for which he served no time. Since then, Napier has worked, married his high school sweetheart, had three children, and coached youth basketball. The arrest saved him, says Napier, now 37.
Then in the fall of 2010, two agents from the Department of Homeland Security showed up at the manufacturing company where Napier worked and took him into custody.
Napier, a Jamaican national who came to the United States as a resident alien at age 5, is likely to be forced to return to Jamaica in the near future. Napier’s felony drug conviction makes him a high-priority deportation candidate, according to federal officials.
“It could be a month or a year,” said Napier in an interview in his family’s home in Pennsauken, surrounded by pictures of his 16-year-old and 12-year-old daughters and 7-year-old son. “When my daughter was born, I made a commitment to never leave my family. And it’s hard knowing that the decisions I made back then are what might take me away from them.”
Napier has no shortage of support. Family members and friends have helped pay for attorneys and raised the bail to get him released from a federal detention center after he was taken there. Community members have pledged to help however they can. But early this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit dismissed his final petition to the Board of Immigration Appeals. That leaves him with few options, short of trying to go to the Supreme Court.
Shawn Neudauer, a public affairs officer with the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there is no set time frame for removing people from the country in cases such as Napier’s.
But, he said, “Mr. Napier’s immigration case has undergone review at multiple levels and the courts have uniformly held he has no legal basis to remain in the United States. As an aggravated felon with a pending final order of removal, Mr. Napier is an enforcement priority.”
Napier is one of thousands to be swept up in policies enacted in recent years by the Department of Homeland Security that focus on removing felons and repeat offenders from the country, said Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the Immigration Policy Program for the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
While the laws allow for some prosecutorial discretion, Rosenblum said that many prosecutors hesitate to deviate from legal guidelines.
“He might not seem like a serious criminal, if you look at the whole picture,” Rosenblum said. “But under a reading of the law, he’s right in their sweet spot.”
It’s unclear exactly when Napier came to the attention of the Department of Homeland Security, or why he wasn’t targeted until 12 years after his conviction. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who are deported each year, cases involving those who came to America as legal permanent residents are much rarer, Rosenblum said.
Napier lived in Kingston until 1983, when his mother brought him to Camden as a legal permanent resident. He played football for Camden High School, where he met his future wife, Kiyonna.
He was about a year out of school and working for an industrial cleaning company when Kiyonna became pregnant. Panicked about his lack of financial stability, Napier joined friends who were on the streets selling drugs. He was arrested in 1998 after police broke up a drug corner in the city’s Waterfront South neighborhood.
It was Napier’s first offense, and his lawyer said he might serve just a few months in jail. Friends, relatives, and coaches wrote letters of support, and through a negotiated plea he was allowed to complete a six-month drug program, followed by five years’ probation, without spending a day behind bars.
His immigration status never came up, Napier said, because his attorney didn’t know he was Jamaican. Napier’s attorney filed paperwork acknowledging, among other considerations, that the plea could jeopardize Napier’s status if he wasn’t a citizen. But documents indicate that the attorney did not believe Napier fell into that category, and Napier said he didn’t read the paperwork before initialing it.
After he completed probation, Napier knew it would be difficult to obtain U.S. citizenship. But he also believed his status was secure as long as he didn’t run afoul of the law.
He knows now that if he had applied for citizenship as a teenager, before his arrest, he would not be facing deportation.
“That eats me up every day,” he said. “Nobody ever talked to me about it when I was younger, but now I think back and I see how easy it would have been.”
Since his conviction, Napier has held jobs in manufacturing, working as a glass technician at AFG Industries in Cinnaminson, and then for NWL Transformers Inc., where he worked as a magnetic technician for seven years before being laid off last fall.
Since then, he has been caring for his ailing grandparents during the day while he looks for work. His wife works as a technician for Laboratory Corp. of America in Cherry Hill. They have been together for 20 years, Napier said.
Napier is uncertain what will happen to him if he is forced to return to Jamaica, where he has no remaining family. When he was a child, his stepfather assisted police in Camden with identifying Jamaican-born gang members who were later deported. He worries that those men could learn his identity if he returns to the area.
Napier and his wife have never discussed his past with their kids, and have tried to shelter them from the possibility of his being removed from the country. But they are getting ready to sit down and talk about it with them.
“I’ve always tried to be the best father I can be,” he said. “I learned from the mistakes I made. And I became a better person through the mercy I was shown by the justice system. It’s hard to face the reality that this is happening now.”
This country is ridiculous!
See other country shit and fi Dem stink
Met, I feel for him because he took and made use of his second chance.
They got Mr. Napier with the law enforced in 1996. Green card renewal will alert them. I wonder if the persons who filed for him do so before he turned 18? If so, INS have a way of overlooking that certificate and it’s up to the “offender” to provide that information.
Note:
If your charges were before 1996, you stand a fighting chance. If charges were before 1989 you qualify for citizenship once you fight and win. If your attorney isn’t arguing with 212c in this case…then they aren’t too bright.
I think this is really wicked he has been here since he was 5..Dem a mek mi sick now with this deportation thing..I have a family member it happened to but him never come here so young he was a teen but spent more than half is life here it nuh fair..From the people dem do dem time and nuh go back a jail fi the same thing they shouldn’t be deported..for some crimes
Side note: I see a section in the article that could have stayed out…
All me can say is…if he or anyone who knows him read over here…tell him to tell his lawyer to file on the basis of 212c it works in favor of long term card holders, given second chances (this isn’t for the flippas, bobbetts and apples, lolol) and took that second chance and made them self a productive member of society.
We all make mistakes (some worse than others) and this man changed his life for the better and now they are sending him home after 30 years. And you have the ones that REFUSE to work, REFUSE to get them status, and TEEF day in and day out and them guh jail and come right back out and haven’t a worry in the world about getting dip. Jail fi those bum assholes is a revolving door. If his mother was a citizen before he turned 16 he is automatically a citizen and that can MAYBE help him. I feel bad for him and I hope he gets the chance to stay.
Before 18.
I retyped and retyped and retyped all I can say is know the law before you break the law! Know what can be the outcome, ignorance of the law is not a defense. Never sign on the doted line without reading and asking questions…..it could come back at you unexpectedly!
agreed no excuse, discussing the issue doesn’t make the issue fade into the background. He should have made his status in this country his number 1 priority after and before he got in trouble. I know a lady who unlike this story didn’t get in trouble but go school go learn a trade plus open her own business and unfortunately her mother passed away before she could finish filing for her and she took it on herself to go to an immigration lawyer and get her papers sorted out you have to prioritize.
He was only 20 and he married after he got in trouble…this here dont give the all the details so I may have to rewrite but he got married
Remember even if u have green card u will get deported with the new law
It ina di article yes seh him married and been for years..maybe he can’t get citizenship either..mi doe think it fair but his wife has rounded up supporters and they have been demonstrating..Let see if they get somewhere
mi just asked somebody bout it and basically they said from he got in trouble and was just a resident this is what you opened yourself up to, they explained to me that he is lucky that he is still here and not deported and he may have a great chance of beating the case because he hasn’t been in trouble since.
yes but he couldn’t get citizenship either way…it tough..they need to change the law…his children being here may help although mi know a man whey get deport lef him 5 children for less than this and dem still deport him lef the children he lived with smh
Yuh know is a shame when u see the lines and demonstration pan immigration a di spanish dem u see..caribbean people not supportive and a we get lick di most because spanish dem know fi get dem way outa things
Quena…murkey waters. Minors/children come here not of their own free will, they weren’t included in the immigration “contract” obligations, so you’ll find that they weren’t aware of anything until it happens to them or someone else.
This man came here at age 5 and it wasn’t until 1996 people started seeing deportation in the capacity known to us now.
@Puertoquena pls do stfu nobody nuh perfect n we all make mistakes ok
I know a lady going through the removal process now court appearance don’t happen yet she never done a crime here no traffic accident work and pay taxes but now they want to say she received green card through fraud marriage and they also put her son in deportation removal and the son was granted permanent green card in teens but because of the mother charges they want to revoke that too. The immigration Laws here is beyond ridiculous, All you hear is the republicans talking about fixing border first what about people lives.
I know couple other people they trick into voluntary deportation and then put ban on them.
If the papers were fraudulent then the courts have all rights to do what they are doing to that lady/son.
Dem nah go deport her I know a lady who went through it dem jus a go lock her up fi a time den let her go..
as long as she nah nu record she can gwan shiver fi a bit or save up fi de fine, lol
yes dem nuh really deport dem ..only mek threat of deportation especially if the person file fi other people to etc..
I feel bad for this guy.My only advice tell u family to hire one a dem jewish immigration lawyer deh,with what I have read above u can stand a chance delaying the process that gives new lawyer time fi mek u win and guh home back to you family.DEM JEWISH LAWYER IS GOOOOOD,HIGH PERCENTAGE IN WINNING IMMIGRATION CASES.U JUST HAVE TO FOLK OUT WHOLE HEAP A MONEY
What he needs is a “good” experience Immigration Attorney. Whether the lawyer is black, white, Muslim or Jewish is irrelevant. Jewish lawyers are no better than any other lawyers from other religious background. I know many Jewish Lawyers who are basically incompetent. Stop spreading ridiculous fallacies. As you fellow Jamaicans how many Jewish Layers mess up thier cases and now cannot file for permanent residencies.
No wonder our own attornies are finding it difficult to attract clients because of this stupid myth. They all go to the same law school and sit the same bar exam.
Anony I wasn’t just typing just fi type.I have a few frens as well as family members that made poor choices earlier living in the states.Jewish lawyer defended dem all from Florida to Ny to Maryland and dem win dem case, some mi even seh dem a waste dem money and dem not gonna get through but they did.Mi just passing along di info to anyone who know anyone weh inna similiar situation.Nutten beat it but a try
Good lawyers know the law,Great lawyers know the judge.Jewish lawyers campaign for their judges and in return I am sure favors will be granted
But a di same 96 law that caused issues for shawna and some of the others. I’m have a friend we was out of touch for a bit I ask his mother where him deh she said deport and him had a past but was doing well open a little business. Same deal but came as a teen. anyway this is the same way shawna den get hemmed up. Babette and dem can’t get away forever.
This is so sad, Now they are trying to implement new law about deporting people who get in trouble with Child support and have green card, You think this country easy? We just have to follow protocols and stay out of trouble. The thing is, this man just had ONE offense and he did turned his life around, why deportation? I hope he wins this case.
Yuh know seh dem nuh deport di white ppl dem weh come yah from Europe illegal unless dem commit some heinous crime? Smfh.
Met, if you can get that information back to this man about looking into 212c and he can give that info to his lawyer would be great, I hope that he finds a way out he is able to stay God help this man and his family and not let this system do him in like that. I pray that all works out for him and he has lawyers that are really fighting for him right now.
If people tek the time a research dem woulda know seh Obama has cause millions of people to be remove from the USA more than any other president ever…..and I’m talking in his first term….
Why ICE AGENTS didnot enforce the law this rigorous before President Obama was in office.They only want President Obama to look like the worst thing ever.
Mi learn long time seh no country will every treat you like di country you were born in. Herod did send back everybody out a Israel fi guh back to dem bawn land fi register demself, from mi read dat mi know seh any country can send you out dem place from you nuh bawn deh at anytime for anyting. I hope the efforts of this man’s friends and family is successful
Miss Met I know a woman that has been in immigration lockup since 9/2014 because she was deported years ago and come back (illegally) and them catch up to her. But here the twist to her story. She came here before she was either 16 or 18 and her father is a citizen so automatically she became a citizen, but she did NOT file the paper work. So right now as we speak her family is using the fact that her dad was a citizen when she came here to try and win her case, BUT due the fact that she got deported on her green card already and hide and come back, that is causing the hold up.
A lot of cases out there like that and nobody nuh mek resources available for them to challenge the law smh..What was she deported for?
They should be spending the time getting that certificate. Immigration don’t do “offender” work fi dem.
Had a childhood, family friend who was placed in deportation status. They got one of those “GOOD” attorney on the case. I simply asked about the age of mother’s naturalization…they took the matter back to the attorney (he was at his ends wit, lol) and he put that argument before the court, case extended, documents traced back and certificate granted; boooom Missy is now a nurse and a proud U.S. citizen, and me never hear from her since life became good for her ole kleptomaniac backside.
Hi bitch! you love mixup so I know yu read JMG! 😀 😀 yep it’s that “likkle bitch” :travel
😀 😀
Sins of your youth will catch up to you. I applaud this young man for changing is ways and becoming a productive citizen. Unfortunately, I had similar issues (not immigration) but I got arrested when I was younger and now that one arrest is a pain in my ass.
It’s terrible how one mistake could cause such a great effect, and haunt you for the rest of your life.
there is a part in the post, that rubbed me the wrong way,the part about the stepdad. I feel like that should not be broadcasted as this may bring unwanted attention towards him. (Get me? )
If any of his parents had become citizen before he was 18 or 21 he would have become a citizen automatically. there are times where it could be easier if both parents were married when ( any) they acquired their citizenship. in regards to the age, different laws were applied at different times.
Haven’t read all the comments so I dont know if anyone said this.If uno know anybody at all weh get inna trouble wid green card and go about dem business living life and then file for citizenship be careful they will come up a yuh place of employment first then you yard preferably u job…another ting if you guh anyweh and dem ask you if u want voters iD DON’T,I repeat DON’T fill nutten out if u not a citizen.If you do and you get dat card u in hot wata if and wen u file fi citizenship cause u lie and for dat you will NEVERRRR obtain citizenship
get a good immigration lawyer, but not ANDREA CLARKE
see how dem stay and all now dem canr deport apple kmft :hoax2