After over a year in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, Rodney Taylor has been released from the Stewart Detention Center in Stewart County.
The Georgia barber’s family shared the news of his release on social media over the weekend.
“Thank you to everyone who protested, called, emailed, shared and donated, your collective efforts made this all possible. We are deeply grateful to you all for your support,” the statement read.
In March, Taylor’s wife, Mildred Danis-Taylor, told Capital B Atlanta that she feared her husband, a double amputee, was in imminent danger of being sent back to Liberia after learning officials had obtained travel documents.
Taylor, 47, was born with severe disabilities and came to the United States with his mother at 2 years old on a medical visa organized by Shriners Children’s Hospital. Before his arrest, he worked as a barber in Gwinnett County under a valid work permit and was in the process of obtaining his green card.
He was detained by ICE and kept in custody because of a felony burglary charge that he pled guilty to as a teenager. He was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 2010.
According to Danis-Taylor, her husband endured horrific conditions at the Stewart facility.
“While in detention, Rodney has deteriorated significantly. He has lost a lot of weight,” Danis-Taylor said. “My husband is not a number, he’s not a case file. He’s a father, he’s a husband. He’s a beloved barber [in] our community. He’s a man who has spent his life serving others, but today, Rodney is being forced to endure conditions that are breaking his body and his spirit.”
In addition to what she described to Capital B Atlanta in January as inadequate medical care, Danis-Taylor said her husband had not had access to accommodations despite his profound disabilities.
“There are times he cannot take a shower,” Danis-Taylor said. “He can’t do it with the general population; he has to remove his prosthetics and then he crawls across floors covered with mold and feces to shower.”
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment about the conditions of Taylor’s detention.
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