An Iraq war veteran who has lived in the United States for nearly 30 years could be deported in a matter of months because he’s a former drug kingpin.
Marlon Parris, who has been in ICE custody since January, was born in Trinidad and Tobago before he was brought to the US in 1997 as a child by his father, who is a naturalized US citizen.
After Parris served two tours in Iraq, he got involved in an elaborate cross-country cocaine smuggling scheme.
He and 13 other defendants were charged with using private jets to transport huge amounts of cocaine from the Los Angeles area to Baltimore, Maryland.
Parris and another man would travel on chartered flights with the cocaine, deliver it to distributors in Baltimore and then return to Los Angeles with the money from the drug deals, according to court records.
Parris pleaded guilty and served nearly six years in federal prison. He was let out in January 2017 on supervised release.
At this time he had a green card, which he renewed in 2007 and 2017, according to AZCentral.
As part of his release back into society, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent him a letter informing him that the government would not deport him over his conviction.
Marlon Parris, an Iraq war veteran, has been sitting in a detention center waiting to get deported back to Trinidad and Tobago. He was arrested by ICE agents two days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated
It appears Parris was caught up in Trump’s escalating enforcement of immigration laws, a key campaign promise he made to voters
The first hiccup in his legal status came in 2023, when his green card was taken away from him by US Customs officials after he took a vacation and reentered the country with his wife, Tanisha Hartwell-Parris, an American citizen.
It is unclear if the removal of Parris’ green card was related to his prior drug offenses.
He was working with an immigration attorney to try to get the document back when he was arrested by ICE on January 22, two days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated.
ICE agents took him into custody near his home in Laveen and transported him to Florence Correctional Center, where he has remained for over four months.
At a May 9 hearing at the Florence Immigration Court, Judge Frank Travieso said he was sympathetic to Parris’ case but ruled that the government had enough evidence to deport him.
Parris’ attorney, Douglas Kouffie, filed motions objecting to the government’s evidence, arguing it had lacked the proper certifications and had been submitted late.
Kouffie also brought up the legal doctrine of equitable estoppel, essentially claiming that Parris had been treated unfairly by the federal government after it explicitly told him he could stay in the country.
Travieso said that as an immigration judge, he did not have the power to act on the equitable estoppel argument, instead implying that Parris should pursue alternative legal means outside of immigration court.
The next court date is August 11, where Parris will be allowed to submit evidence arguing against his deportation, while the government will make the case for his removal.
Tanisha Hartwell-Parris, who is married to Parris and is an American citizen, said her husband’s hair has gotten much grayer because of the months of detention he’s faced
In an interview with CNN , Hartwell-Parris said that twice a week, she gets up at 4am and drives to the detention center to visit him. Though, she can’t have physical contact with him
Hartwell-Parris told AZCentral that she’ll continue fighting for her husband to stay in the country.
She also said his hair has grown much grayer in the months of detention he’s faced.
In an interview with CNN, Hartwell-Parris said that twice a week, she gets up at 4am and drives to the detention center to visit him.
That’s as often as she’s allowed to see him, and even when she does see him, they are separated by glass and must communicate by phone.
‘It’s been hard, for sure, to have to even adjust to life without him here,’ she said. ‘But I just, I try to thank God for just the little time that I am able to see him those two times a week.’
It’s not entirely clear why ICE has zeroed in on Parris, but Trump did say on the campaign trail that he would make deporting criminals a priority.
Parris was convicted for his role in a drug ring that was broken up by law enforcement nearly 15 years ago. He finished serving his time in prison for that crime over eight years ago.
According to the indictment, Parris flew on a private jet from Los Angeles to Baltimore with 118 kilograms of cocaine on October 1, 2010. That cocaine was delivered to three separate buyers.
In a separate incident on October 7, 2010, Parris was traveling with $240,060 in cash in a suitcase.
When police at Phoenix International Airport stopped him, he claimed the money was going to be used to buy himself ‘an Aston Martin sports car,’ according to the federal indictment.
Incredibly, Parris was let go, but police seized the money. Every member of the criminal conspiracy was charged about a month later.
