What does “thank you for your service” really mean when a veteran is deported before his case is fully heard? That question now sits at the center of Godfrey Wade’s story. Wade, a Georgia Army veteran who entered the United States legally in 1975, was deported to Jamaica on Feb. 5 after months in ICE custody according to the latest published reports.
The case hits hard because the broad outline is not in dispute. In a Feb. 5 letter to DHS and ICE, Rep. David Scott said Wade served honorably on active duty from 1983 to 1987 in the 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.
Scott also said Wade had raised six U.S. citizen children and was being held at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana while his case was pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The notice fight at the heart of the case
What turned a traffic stop into a deportation case? By published accounts, Wade was pulled over in Georgia in September 2025 for failing to use a turn signal and for driving without a valid license.
From there, ICE acted on a 2014 removal order tied to older convictions involving a bounced check and a simple assault charge.
Wade’s lawyer has argued that the real issue is notice. Scott’s letter said the government record reflected repeated failures of notice, and CBS News Atlanta reported that hearing notices were returned as undeliverable.
DHS has framed the case very differently. In a statement reported by Atlanta News First, the department pointed to Wade’s criminal history and said an immigration judge had ordered him removed after he failed to appear in 2014.
But Wade’s side keeps coming back to the same question. If the notice never truly reached him, should that missed hearing have been the final word?
That is why this story reaches beyond one family in Georgia. It is not only about old mistakes on paper. It is about whether military service still carries weight when immigration officials decide who gets time, discretion, or simply a fair shot to speak.
Wade is now in Jamaica, where he and his attorney are still pushing to reopen the case. As Wade put it, he wants “one chance to be heard.” For his family, that is the whole point.
The press release was published on Congressman David Scott’s official website.
