The health of a Liberian-born double amputee held at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Georgia has significantly deteriorated, drawing political attention to his case.
A Deteriorating Medical Situation
Rodney Taylor, a 46-year-old man who has lived in the United States for nearly 40 years, has been detained at the Stewart detention centre in Lumpkin, Georgia, for almost a year. His health has declined sharply during this period.
Taylor, who is missing three fingers on one hand, has now been diagnosed with bone spurs in his back, causing him severe pain. The silicone lining on one of his prosthetic legs has also deteriorated, leading to painful chafing and boils.
According to his fiancée, Mildred Pierre, Taylor is also facing problems with high blood pressure. This has resulted in dizziness, headaches, and a prickly sensation in his right arm, prompting a recent change in his medication.
"I feel like [being detained] is draining on my body," Taylor told the Guardian.
Political Support and Legal Challenges
Taylor's plight has now garnered support from Georgia's Democratic senator, Raphael Warnock. In a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the end of October, Warnock urged a "full and fair consideration" of Taylor's pressing health issues.
The senator's letter highlighted that Taylor is a respected barber and cancer awareness advocate who has received widespread community support. A lieutenant from the Gwinnett county sheriff’s office and a local board of commissioners chairperson described him as a person of "excellent character" and "an asset to his community".
Warnock's office confirmed that staff members have visited Taylor at the detention centre to better understand his conditions and have elevated medical concerns for multiple detainees to ICE leadership.
Legally, Taylor's situation remains complex. An attorney filed a habeas corpus petition in September seeking his release on bond while his immigration case is decided. Although a judge from the same federal district court recently ruled in a separate case that the Trump administration's policy of not allowing bond violated immigration law, the judge handling Taylor's petition has not yet issued a ruling.
A Life and Family Disrupted
Taylor was brought to the US by his mother on a medical visa as a child and has undergone 16 operations throughout his life. He became engaged to Mildred Pierre just ten days before ICE detained him in January.
His detention stems from a burglary conviction from his teenage years, for which the state of Georgia pardoned him in 2010. He has a pending application for US residence but has not been released on bond.
Taylor and Pierre have a large family with seven children. Pierre recently drove the 300-mile round trip to visit him with five of their children, only to be informed of a new policy limiting visitors to two adults and three children per visit. Since two of their children are over 18, Pierre had to wait in the car so the others could see their father.
During his detention, Taylor has faced multiple mishaps, including screws coming out of his prosthetic legs, causing falls and hand injuries. He has also experienced periods where he could not charge the batteries in his prosthetics or get them calibrated, leading to further injuries.
His attorney, Helen Parsonage, stated that the government is fighting "tooth and nail" to keep Taylor locked up, insisting he already has a deportation order. She described his case as "symptomatic of a lack of humanity" within the Department of Homeland Security.
Despite the political support, Taylor remains sceptical. "I appreciate the letter [from Senator Warnock]," he said. "But watching the way this administration is operating, it seems like they don't care, sad to say. They have their own agenda."
