Double amputee in Georgia ICE detention could be deported soon, supporters say

The family of Rodney Taylor, the Gwinnett County barber and double amputee who has been in immigration detention for more than a year, warned Friday his deportation could be imminent.

Mildred Danis-Taylor said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials acquired travel documents for her husband this week, a sign he could soon be put on a deportation flight.

“We believe that this is an escalation,” she said at a news conference.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment about the timeline of Taylor’s pending deportation.

His case has received national attention, driven by mistreatment allegations made by his family and lawyers, and it has raised questions about ICE’s ability to safely detain people with disabilities. Georgia lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have attempted to intercede with immigration authorities on Taylor’s behalf.

Born with severe disabilities to his legs and arms, Taylor, now 47, was brought from Liberia to the U.S. by his mother at age 2 under a medical visa so he could receive treatment. The disabilities eventually led to his left leg being amputated above the knee and his right leg below the knee.

By the time of his ICE arrest on Jan. 15, 2025, Taylor’s medical visa had long expired, though he had a valid work permit. He also had a pending application for a green card through his adult son, who is a U.S. citizen. He has been held at South Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center.

The federal agency has kept Taylor in detention because of a felony burglary conviction to which he pleaded guilty as a teenager, and from which he was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 2010.

Since Taylor entered ICE custody, his lawyers and family members have said he has not been able to fully charge the prosthetics that help him walk, and they’ve also expressed concern about a lack of access to appropriate medicine to prevent chafing at one of his amputation areas.

According to Danis-Taylor, more recent health complications include significant weight loss, high blood pressure and a diagnosis of bone spurs, which cause severe pain.

“Rodney is being forced to endure conditions that are breaking his body and his spirit,” she said during Friday’s news conference.

Uchechukwu Onwa, a coordinator with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, an immigrant advocacy group, said the steps taken by ICE mean Taylor could be deported imminently, even as an appeal to allow him to remain in the country is pending.

“He could be deported to Liberia at any time,” he said.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Marietta) told then Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about Taylor’s detention struggles during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Noem responded she would “look into” Taylor’s case.

Stewart, she added, should be “held to the same standards as all as our federal detention standards, which are the highest in the nation.”

President Donald Trump announced Noem’s firing as head of DHS the following day.