Thomas, a 35 -year -old technician and father of three children from Ireland, visited his girlfriend in West Virginia last fall. He was one of the many trips he had made to the US, and had been allowed to travel under a visa exemption program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days, according to the Guardian.

He was scheduled to return to Ireland in December, but was unable to fly due to a health problem, as his medical records show. It had been only three days after the end of the permissible residence period in the UK, when a random meeting with the Police brought him in custody by the Ice and Customs Service (ICE).

Beyond that, what should be a small incident has evolved into a nightmarish test: it was held by ICE into three different facilities, eventually spending about 100 days behind the railings, without realizing why it is held – or when it will come out.

“No one is safe from the system if it drifts into it,” Thomas said, in a recent interview from his home in Ireland, a few months after his release. Thomas asked to be nicknamed by fear of having further consequences by US immigration authorities.

Although he immediately agreed to be deported when he was arrested, Thomas remained in custody after Donald Trump’s duties and the dramatic increase in immigrant arrests. In the midst of an increased population in detention centers, Thomas was forced to spend part of his detention in a federal prison for criminal defendants, although he was held for violating the migration law.

Thomas was sent back to Ireland in March and was announced that he was banned from entering the US for 10 years.

The test of this is followed by an increase in reports for tourists and visitors with a valid Ice visa, including Australia, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom.