New York, USA — The case of Godfrey Wade, the US army veteran who was deported to his homeland Jamaica, without given his day in court, has influenced his attorney to seek a seat in the US Congress to fight for justice on behalf of people like Wade.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported Wade last month, despite strenuous efforts by his attorney Tony Kozycki to have his case tried in immigration court, and then to get support from Congress for a man he said had fought for his country and was honourably discharged.

Kozycki is getting ready to run in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District in the November 2026 mid-term elections, saying he wanted to help fix a system which he believes has failed Wade and others he think could face a similar fate in the future.

“Godfrey’s case is the reason I have decided to run. I have gotten to know him and his family over the past few months and he’s had a real impact on me,” the attorney says.

His decision came after he failed to get support from some Congress members for a private Bill his law firm — Kozycki Law LLC — had drafted and which he believes could have helped in the process to get a fair hearing for Wade, and because “I believe Wade has a compelling appellate argument”.

“The Bill requires congressional involvement. However, I don’t think it has to be partisan, as it is my view that Wade’s legal case is very strong. Of all the similar cases we have done, Godfrey Wade’s has the best chance of succeeding,” Kozycki told the Jamaica Observer.

He contends that Wade’s case reflects systemic problems as he was not afforded an opportunity to be heard in court, which is all they were asking for, adding that: “With Wade now out of the country, it could be years before his appeal is heard, as similar cases against people in detention here will be given priority.”

Wade, who migrated from Jamaica to the US in 1975, had been residing in the country as a legal resident for 50 years. He enlisted in the army and served overseas before being honourably discharged.

The 65-year-old father and grandfather was deported for violating a 2014 removal order stemming from a bounced cheque and an assault charge. Both Wade and his attorney have maintained that notices for him to attend a hearing on the matter were never received, due to problems with an address used by the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency (ICE) which they say court records show.

Moreover, restitution of the bounced cheque and all applicable fines were made in full, according to Wade’s family, while his attorney noted that no physical violence was ever alleged in respect of the assault charge.

“All we are asking is for the case to be reopened and Mr Wade to have his day in court. There is no need to trust me or Godfrey, just look at the documents and the evidence. All we want is one day before a judge and I know we will win this case,” a confident Kozycki told our newspaper.

“Godfrey served this country honourably when he was asked to defend it. He is a genuinely good man,” Kozycki said of Wade. “This is something DHS could act on quickly to get the case reopened,” he said.

Before the deportation, Congressman David Scott, who represents Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, wrote to the Department of Homeland Security requesting that Wade’s departure be stayed pending the appeal of his case. He did not receive a reply until four days after Wade was deported,
CBS News reported Scott as saying.

The congressman was also quoted as saying that “Mr Wade served this country honourably and was entitled to due process”.

Asked why Wade never applied for US citizenship, Kozycki said: “It is a question that has come up quite often, and while it is not a requirement to reside in the United States legally, everybody I have ever spoken to I say to them ‘you need to become a US citizen the day you become eligible’.

“Godfrey Wade’s situation underscores the problem. Some people struggle to understand the importance of citizenship until something happens. Had he become a citizen he could not have been deported nor would he have lost his citizenship,” Kozycki told the Jamaica Observer.

Kozycki, who is also an army veteran, said he has already filed the necessary papers for his congressional run on a Democratic Party ticket. He will likely be going up against current representative, Republican Rich McCormick, who Kozycki accused of doing nothing to assist Wade, despite being a veteran himself.

Wade’s deportation has left many within the Jamaican community here disappointed over how he has been treated.

“I think his deportation was a cruel act,” said Carmeta Albarus who heads Family Unification and Resettlement Initiative (FURI), the New York-based non-profit which has been assisting deported Jamaicans to resettle.

“For someone who has served this country (US) and earned an honourable discharge, his service should have counted for something. His deportation does not reflect that it did,” she said, adding that FURI was the first to arrange a phone call for Wade when he arrived in Jamaica, to allow him to communicate with his family.

Tony Kozycki in military garb

Godfrey Wade.