Owen Ramsingh is back in the Netherlands after almost five months of uncertainty awaiting a pivotal decision about his future.
According to his family, Ramsingh arrived in the Netherlands at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Central Time. His wife, Diana, and one of their children plan to join him this week.
Ramsingh, 48, was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, and immigrated to the United States in 1986 at the age of 5 with his mother. He had been a green card holder since 1986.
He was detained in September by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago after returning home from a trip to see family still in the Netherlands. He was headed home to Columbia.
The Department of Homeland Security cited prior convictions for cocaine and marijuana possession as justification for his detention. The immigration policy allows officers to detain a legal resident who has former drug-related convictions upon reentry into the country.
Initially, Ramsingh was held in El Paso, signed his deportation papers on Christmas Eve and expected to be deported to the Netherlands within 30 days. Instead, he remained in detention in Texas until he was abruptly moved to New Mexico in early December.
It then became difficult for the family to keep in touch with him until after he was placed in the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico.
On Dec. 10, a judge in New Mexico ordered that Ramsingh be deported to the Netherlands with a lifetime ban on returning to the United States.
His family has not seen him since Sept. 2, Diana Ramsingh said. Ahead of them now are finding jobs, securing housing, getting health insurance and drivers' licenses, and becoming accustomed to the language and the culture.
"I'm just feeling relieved that he's finally getting his freedom back," his wife said by text. "Now, we are starting over."
Contacting Ramsingh after his release, close friend Robert Olson said he told him he was smiling and breathing fresh air.
"I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders," Olson said. "He's finally home and he's finally safe."
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