After years of serving as the Trump family’s personal driver, Zoltan Tamas has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for eight months.
Tamas 38, a Romanian green card holder who also served as senior security guard at Trump National Golf Club on Florida’s Treasure Coast, was arrested by U.S. immigration authorities after applying for American citizenship, the New York Times reports. A background check resulting from the application indicated that Tamas had been convicted in the Romanian court system of insurance fraud.
Tamas began working for the Trump Organization in 2006 at the age of 25 as a seasonal worker at the now-president’s Florida properties under an H-2B visa. After he immigrated to the U.S. in 2011, Tamas worked directly for the Trump family, shuttling him around from airport to airport and escorting him to and from the Trump properties while Trump was running for president.
The former Trump employee is being detained at Wakulla Correctional Institution in Crawfordville, Fla., about 20 miles from Florida’s capital Tallahassee.
Tamas has spent the last eight months unable to see his wife or kids, aged 11 and 8. The youngest child is said to suffer from a congenital heart disease.
Tamas’ legal team has been in constant court battles over the immigration judge’s deportation ruling, arguing that Tamas is not a threat to society and should be free to return to his family while his immigration status is sorted out. ICE, however, remains adamant about Tamas’ detention prior to his deportation.
“Zoltan wasn’t caught crossing the border,” Tamas’ lawyer Mario Urizar said, arguing that Tamas is not a threat to anyone around him. “He was in the country legally, paying taxes, and has no criminal record in the United States. Why would you keep him detained? They should use their discretionary power to release him.”
