Connor Read ICE detention: British dad held for 7 weeks
Connor Read ICE detention began on 3 June 2026, when the British-born Florida father was arrested by ICE at a Tampa green card interview and separated from his wife and twin sons. He has been held for more than seven weeks in Louisiana while appealing a removal order that could take months to resolve.
Key Takeaways
- Connor Read, 29, was arrested by ICE on 3 June 2026 during a green card interview in Tampa, Florida.
- The Chatham, Kent–born father has lived in the US since age nine and has twin sons with his American wife, Jaelin.
- ICE cites a 2011 removal order and past convictions for narcotic equipment, liquor possession and resisting an officer.
- He spent eight days in Pinellas County Jail before transfer to an ICE centre in Louisiana and is appealing deportation.
- His family says the wait could stretch another six months and they may move to the UK if he is removed.
Read’s case has drawn fresh attention across US and UK coverage after he described detention as feeling like he was “being treated like a murderer.” For more reporting in this beat, see our True Crime & Unsolved Mysteries hub.
What happened to Connor Read at the green card interview?
According to The Guardian, Read was invited to a residency permit meeting at the federal immigration building in Tampa on 3 June.
In the interview room, four ICE agents arrested him and removed him from the building. Officials told his wife, Jaelin, 25, that he would not be coming home.
Jaelin said their three-year-old twins, Ryder and Ozzie, reacted in the crowded waiting room as agents separated the family. She called the appointment a “genuine nightmare” and said officers never reviewed paperwork the couple had prepared.
Why is ICE seeking to deport the British father?
Read arrived in the United States on 21 November 2007 through Orlando International Airport on an F-2 visa as a dependent of an F-1 student parent. After a visa violation, he was placed in removal proceedings. An Orlando immigration judge issued a final order of removal in January 2011.
At 16 he received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. Reports say he later could not renew DACA at 22 because of a narcotic equipment conviction. ICE also cites convictions for possession of liquor and resisting an officer.
An ICE spokesperson told The Times that Read is a “criminal illegal alien of the United Kingdom” and that nearly 70% of ICE arrests under the Trump administration involve people charged or convicted of a crime.
Where is Connor Read now and what happens next?
After arrest, Read spent eight days in Pinellas County Jail in what he described as “horrible” and “dirty” conditions. Bound at the hands and ankles for transport—“You’d think they were transporting a bunch of murderers”—he was flown to the Central Louisiana Processing Center, where he has remained for about seven weeks.
The pressure-washing business owner, who runs Refresh Florida, says: “I feel like I’m an innocent person who is serving time right now.” He has also said: “I don’t know England, I know Florida.”
He is appealing the final removal order but has been warned a decision may take up to six months. The family has relied on GoFundMe donations and is considering a move to the UK if deportation goes ahead. “If that’s what we need to do, then that’s what we’ll do,” Read said. “We just think I have a strong case.”