The health of Rodney Taylor, a 46-year-old Liberian-born double amputee detained at Georgia's Stewart immigration detention center, has continued to decline, drawing support from US Senator Raphael Warnock. Taylor, who is missing three fingers on one hand, has been held for nearly a year after being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Taylor told the Guardian he has been diagnosed with bone spurs in his back, causing severe pain, and the silicone lining of one of his prosthetic legs has deteriorated, leading to chafing and boils. His fiancée, Mildred Pierre, reported that Taylor has also experienced high blood pressure, resulting in a prickly sensation in his right arm, dizziness, and headaches, with a recent change in medication. “I feel like [being detained] is draining on my body,” Taylor said.
Senator Warnock has written to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, urging her to consider Taylor's pressing health issues. The letter describes Taylor as a respected barber and cancer awareness advocate who has lived in his community for 40 years, receiving support from local officials who called him a person of excellent character and an asset to his community. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond after being sent a copy of the letter.
Taylor and Pierre have seven children. Pierre recently drove a 300-mile round trip to visit Taylor with five of their children, but was unable to enter due to a new policy limiting visits to two adults and three children. Two of the children are over 18, so Pierre stayed in the car. Since Warnock's letter, a federal judge ruled in another case that the Trump administration's no-bond policy violated immigration law, but the judge handling Taylor's September petition for bond has not yet ruled.
Brought to the US on a medical visa as a child, Taylor has undergone 16 operations. He became engaged ten days before ICE detained him in January, due to a teenage burglary conviction for which Georgia granted a pardon in 2010. Taylor has a pending green card application but remains detained. He has faced multiple mishaps, including screws coming out of his prosthetic legs causing falls, and difficulties charging batteries or calibrating his legs, leading to injuries. The Trump administration has dismantled two federal oversight offices for healthcare in detention.
Attorney Helen Parsonage, who filed Taylor's bond petition, said the recent ruling on mandatory detention would not help Taylor due to his old conviction and the government's insistence that he has a deportation order. “They’re digging in their heels, fighting tooth and nail” to keep Taylor locked up, she said, referring to ICE. Senator Warnock's staff visited Taylor at Stewart to hear about his conditions and advocate for his treatment.
