A Florida-based immigration attorney says the deportation of a Jamaican-born US Army veteran has pushed him to run for Congress — and he’s naming the case as the reason he’s getting into politics.
Tony Kozycki, who represented Godfrey Wade before the Department of Homeland Security removed him to Jamaica last month, has filed paperwork to run as a Democrat in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District in the November 2026 midterms. He’s expected to face Republican incumbent Rich McCormick, whom Kozycki says did nothing to help Wade despite being a veteran himself.
Attorney Tony Kozycki
“Godfrey’s case is the reason I have decided to run,” Kozycki said. “I have gotten to know him and his family over the past few months and he’s had a real impact on me.”
Wade came to the United States from Jamaica in 1975, lived there legally for 50 years, served in the US Army, and received an honourable discharge. He was 65 years old when he was deported, the result of a 2014 removal order tied to a bounced cheque and an assault charge. His attorney and family say he never received the court hearing notices because immigration authorities had used a wrong address — something they say is documented in court records. The bounced cheque was fully repaid, and no physical violence was alleged in the assault charge.
Kozycki’s firm drafted a private Bill it believed could have helped Wade get a fair hearing, but says it couldn’t get the congressional support it needed to move the legislation forward. That frustration, combined with the deportation itself, convinced Kozycki to seek a seat at the table.
“All we are asking is for the case to be reopened and Mr Wade to have his day in court,” he said. “I know we will win this case.”
Georgia Congressman David Scott wrote to DHS asking that Wade’s removal be paused while his appeal was pending, but received no reply until four days after the deportation had already taken place, according to CBS News. Scott was quoted as saying Wade had served the country honourably and deserved due process.
Kozycki, himself a veteran, also addressed the question of why Wade never pursued citizenship — a move that would have made deportation impossible. His answer was blunt: it’s a mistake he warns everyone to avoid. “Godfrey Wade’s situation underscores the problem. Some people struggle to understand the importance of citizenship until something happens.”
Back in Jamaica, Carmeta Albarus, who heads the New York-based non-profit Family Unification and Resettlement Initiative (FURI), called Wade’s deportation a cruel act. Her organisation was among the first to arrange a phone call so Wade could reach his family after arriving in Jamaica.
“For someone who served this country and earned an honourable discharge, his service should have counted for something,” she said.
