The New York Times reported on Friday that for the past eight months, a man who used to drive around Trump family and campaign staff in South Florida has been in ICE custody, after immigrating to the United States legally and applying for a green card.
The man, Zolton Tamas, reportedly began working for Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2006, and came back to the U.S. in 2011 after he and his family received permanent residency cards. From the Times:
In 2013, Mr. Tamas got a full-time job with benefits and health insurance at the golf club in Jupiter, which Mr. Trump had purchased the previous year. He took classes to become a security officer and to obtain a license to handle firearms, and was hired to keep watch over the expansive grounds. He later took a second job in the transportation division.
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While Mr. Trump was campaigning for president in 2016, Ms. Rogozan said that her husband was promoted to deputy head of security at the Jupiter club. He picked up campaign staff members and dignitaries at the airport. Each time, he had to submit identification for clearance by the Secret Service, she said.
Her husband liked the Trump family, she said, saying often that, “They’re not what you see on TV.”
In 2016, the family reportedly began the process to become naturalized citizens. While his family became citizens in April of 2017, Tamas was given the cold shoulder by immigration authorities. Then, in June of last year, Tamas was detained by ICE. He had apparently been convicted in absentia in Romania of insurance fraud, which the family says was the fault of a friend.
His wife, Alina Rogozan, told the Times she hasn’t seen him since he was taken into custody. Making matters even worse is that Tamas’ young daughter was born with an enlarged heart.
ICE told the Times that it couldn’t comment on the specific case. We have also reached out to ICE for comment and will update if we hear back.
Given what we know about the cruelty of the Trump administration towards immigrants, particularly people from Mexico and Central America, none of this is exactly groundbreaking. But it shows just what great lengths the administration and its fascist secret police will go to in order to rid the country of immigrants, as well as the real human consequences of the administration’s actions.
Not to mention that it’s more proof that the “loyalty” Trump is supposedly such a big fan of only goes one way.