ImmigrationImmigration officials incarcerate Iraq War vet over a passport

Photo taken by then-Spc. Elisha Dawkins while serving in Iraq // Source: militaryphotos.net

Federal immigration officials are seeking to deport a veteran of the Army and Navy who has served with distinction in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

Authorities have held Elisha L. Dawkinsin a federal lockup in Miami since May. His crime: lying on a passport application.

In 2006 on a passport application Dawkins responded that he had never applied for a passport before. Federal prosecutors say he had, yet in 2006 he was still issued a passport despite not being a citizen. The Dawkins case is convoluted as he had been thoroughly vetted by state, federal, and military officials and determined a U.S. citizen multiple times.

Dawkins first arrived in the United States with his mother from the Bahamas as an infant. His mother was eventually deported and he was raised by his relatives in Miami told him he was an American citizen.

Contrarily immigration officials do not consider Dawkins an American and in 1992 issued a deportation order for Dawkins when he was eight years old.

The Army and Navy never disputed his immigration status in his seven years of service and even awarded him secret security clearance.

“The military believes he’s an American citizen,” said Clark Mervis, Dawkins’s lawyer.

After high school, Dawkins enlisted in the Army with a birth certificate issued by the State of Florida a few months earlier. The birth certificate was issued after his birth so the state used medical records, school transcripts, and his Social Security number to verify his birth in October 1984. It is unclear where he obtained a Social Security number.

Jessica Hammond, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health, explained that supporting documentation is often used to issue delayed birth certificates.

“All documents are examined by our qualified evidence technicians and are subject to verification with the originating source,” she said. “This process has been in place for well over 50 years.”

According to Troy Rolan, a spokesman for the Army, to prove citizenship the Army requires two forms of identification.

“If he had a Social Security card and he had a birth certificate and he passed all the other requirements, then he’s good to go,” Rolan said. “If you look at the documentation he has, there’s nothing that says he’s not a U.S. citizen.”

Dawkins’s military records indicate the he was honorably discharged as a specialist in 2008 and received the Iraq Campaign medal, Global War on Terrorism medal and Combat Action badge, and several other awards.

After leaving the Army, Dawkins immediately enlisted in the Navy where he received security clearance to serve at Guantanamo.

Caroline Teschner, a Navy spokeswoman, said that his security clearance was granted based on the clearance he had received from the Army. She noted that the Army would have discharged him if his background check revealed a deportation order.

“We don’t often incarcerate war-hero-type people for making a false statement on a passport application,” Mervis said. “It’s a case that should never have been prosecuted criminally. This is just wrong.”

Mervis is puzzled as to why Dawkins was indicted after receiving his passport and while still serving in the Navy.

Mervis hopes that federal prosecutors will consent to a pretrial diversion program so Dawkins can avoid a conviction.

Dawkins’s military service qualifies him to become a citizen, but a criminal conviction would disqualify him.