Homeland Security agents arrest man targeted for 1998 plea

Fidel Napier left home early Monday to drop off his daughter at school, his wife said. When he returned to his Pennsauken home, agents from the Department of Homeland Security were there to take him into custody.

Napier, 37, had been waiting for that moment for months, since learning he would be deported to his native Jamaica because of a 1998 drug conviction. The agents allowed him to call his wife, Kiyonna, who raced home from work to say goodbye.

"They wouldn't let me touch him or anything," Kiyonna Napier said Tuesday. "Then they just took him away."

A story last week in The Inquirer detailed Napier's fight to remain in the country after he became a target for deportation almost five years ago. He came to the United States at age 5 and grew up in Camden. At 20, he pleaded guilty to selling cocaine - an arrest he now says was a wake-up call. He served no jail time and went on to build a career, marry his high school sweetheart, and have three children.

In 2010, Homeland Security agents went to the manufacturing company where Napier worked and arrested him. His felony conviction makes him a high-priority deportation candidate, according to federal officials.

He is being held in Newark, N.J., said his wife, who on Tuesday gathered with several dozen friends at the federal courthouse in Camden to rally support for her husband. Camden activist Angel Cordero said he submitted a letter from Napier to Gov. Christie asking for help, and has asked local leaders for aid as well.

Policies enacted in recent years by Homeland Security focus on removing felons and repeat offenders from the country. It's unclear when Napier came to the attention of the department, or why he was not targeted until 12 years after his plea. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who are deported each year, cases involving those who came to America as legal permanent residents are rare.

Napier said last week that he was unaware that the 1998 plea could jeopardize his status in the country, and that his lawyer at the time did not know he was not a U.S. citizen.

Since 2010, Napier has appealed the deportation decision without success. In one court filing, he argued that his stepfather had helped Camden police and federal agents make arrests of Jamaican-born gang members in Camden, and that a return to the country could put his life at risk.

Shawn Neudauer, a public affairs officer with the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Tuesday that there is no general timeline for how long it can take to deport someone, but that it can depend on logistical details such as obtaining travel documents.

At the Camden rally, longtime family friend the Rev. Tim Merrill said Napier was a consummate family man who coached youth sports, attended church, and volunteered in his community.

"He needs to be in the lives of his children," Merrill said. "He was born in another country, but this is his home. He needs to be here with his family."

Napier has no family left in Jamaica, and his wife said that losing him will cripple the family. From paying for food and clothes to taking their kids to sports practices and school, their marriage is an equal partnership, she said.

"I don't understand how they could let him stay all this time and build a family," she said. "He thought he was safe here."