Mentally Ill US Citizen Deported

I am in such shock I don't even know where to begin. It would be easier for me to better understand this horrifying true story if it had been a Spanish-speaking only U.S. citizen or even someone who was actually of Mexican descent, but this is just not the case. Mark Lyttle's story is neither of these and it's so sad, I had to laugh to stop from crying.

Mark Lyttle's story broke when Dr. Jacqueline Stevens, associate professor from University of California, Santa Barbara, got hold of the details and blogged about it. According to Dr. Stevens, his story is not unique, 10,000 U.S. citizens get deported annually.

Unfortunately for Mr. Lyttle, 32, born in Salisbury, North Carolina, was probably having a Manic episode when he committed a misdemeanor that landed him jail. Dr. Stevens writes,

Last week I received Mark's "alien file" maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. Among dozens of documents revealing the incompetence and even treachery of ICE, Customs and Border Patrol agents, and an immigration judge in Atlanta are ones triggering a series of events resulting in Mark's four month journey through five countries in Latin America.

On August 27, 2008, according to a guard at the Neuse Correctional Institute, "five or six ladies who do the admin intakes" would have been typing into the North Carolina Offender database vital statistics for the approximately 60 inmates they were screening that day.

For Mark, serving a 100 day sentence for a misdemeanor, this meant a record stating:

Race: OTHER

Complexion: MEDIUM

Ethnicity: ORIENTAL

Place of Birth: MEXICO


Mark says he remembers the interview. The woman told him he had brown skin, so maybe he was from Mexico. She was going to alert ICE to follow up. (Perhaps she did this by typing "Mexico" as Mark's place of birth? I guess Mark was lucky: she could have typed "China" -- of course Mark has no relatives from Asia, either.)

The psychologist that examined him before his first of several deportation diagnosed Mr. Lyttle with Bipolar I.



I don't know what's funnier that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data intake administrators did not know what a Mexican looks like or that a clearly looking black man standing in a Southern state was Mexican and Oriental without a speck of an accent or a Latino name. No, Jose Thomas does not count. If it did NPR and Fox New Sunday commentator Juan Williams should be looking over his shoulder, starting NOW. Mentally ill folks can have a little fun too, but I guess Mr. Lyttle's jokes with the system left him with a bitter taste.

The scandalous part was that it took one day for State Department employee in Guatemala to verify that Mark Lyttle was a U.S. citizen. It's amazing that employees at ICE couldn't afford him the right to do their job properly, a job our tax payer dollars are paying for.

This is one of those cases that gives credence to why organizations like Mind Freedom International exist. It takes Mad Pride to represent and fight to be heard and treated with respect.

Go on Mark Lyttle, tell your story, with you Mad self.

The Afterw@rd