UK Hairdresser in Florida Says He Was Detained by ICE for Looking Mexican

Lee Stinton, a 45-year-old hairdresser from Lisburn, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland says he was stopped by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on a street in Florida, told, “You look Mexican,” and detained for about a month at the Krome Detention Center before being deported to the U.K.

Newsweek emailed the Department of Homeland Security for comment, and contacted Stinton via his Instagram account for further information.

Why It Matters

Stinton’s allegations—that an ICE officer used his appearance as a basis for detention, that he endured overcrowded conditions and limited medical care at Krome, and that the British consulate was not contacted promptly—illustrate broader concerns that have accompanied intensified immigration enforcement since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

ICE has publicized large-scale operations in Florida; in May, the agency described a weeklong operation that it said led to more than 1,100 arrests and emphasized a focus on criminal offenses.

What To Know

Stinton’s account, as told in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, raises questions about racial profiling, detainee conditions and consular access amid expanded interior immigration operations by federal authorities.

“I went through one of the most unjust and cruel experiences under President Trump’s regime, and it has changed me forever,” he wrote in a post on Instagram sharing the Telegraph interview.

Stinton told the Belfast Telegraph that while he was “on my way to work one day” an ICE officer said to him: “You look Mexican.” He said he told officers he was “from Northern Ireland” and that, while being shackled, he managed to call his partner.

“The man who was arresting me looked at my phone,” Stinton said. “My screensaver is a picture of my partner and me. He said: ‘He looks Haitian. This might be a two-for-one deal today.’

The Northern Irish paper reported that Stinton had been working as a hairdresser in Key West, had a partner, DeVaun Davis, a U.S. citizen, and planned to marry. Stinton told the paper he believed he had a legal right to remain in the U.S. and that he had been pursuing regularization of his status. He said he had no criminal record and likened the experience to being “kidnapped off of the street.”

Stinton said he was taken to the Krome Detention Center near Miami where he was held in a concrete cell he described as designed for about 10 people, but containing more than 100, with limited food, shower access and denial of medication for some detainees.

He said he witnessed a man “begging for days for his heart medication. He literally dropped dead of a heart attack in front of my eyes. They didn’t give him the medication he needed.”

Stinton also described medical procedures he said were performed without his consent to remove subdermal piercings while he was shackled to a bed.

The Belfast Telegraph said Stinton was assigned a “blue” detainee uniform denoting low custody, alleged delays in consular contact, and recounted that he was deported to London and left without onward arrangements. The article said he arrived in Northern Ireland on July 12.

Watch the interview with Stinton below:

What People Are Saying

Lee Stinton told the Belfast Telegraph: “I never even had so much as a parking ticket. I have no criminal record. I have never done anything wrong. I was doing everything the U.S. government asked me.”

What Happens Next

Stinton told the Belfast Telegraph he is receiving therapy for post-traumatic stress and has returned to hairdressing part-time in Lisburn.