Levi Kones: How Kenyan Woman Caused His Arrest, Deportation From US

Levi Kones, a Kenyan journalist and author, uncovered on Monday, September 18 how a Kenyan woman he dated while residing in the United States (US) triggered a chain of events that led to his deportation from the American country.

Kones was speaking in an interview with TV47's Gachambi Nderitu when he opened up on his stint in Chicago working for both American multinational telecommunications company Motorola and in the media as a contributor for the Chicago Tribune newspaper for stories about Africa.

He revealed that he eventually lost his job at Motorola where he was doing packaging for phones and accessories among others as a result of the company shutting down, coming at a torrid time when the US economy was going into a recession that made it tougher to secure a job.

Aerial view of the city of Chicago. /TRAVEL AND LEISURE

Kones had found a job at PayPal but was working four hours a week, which he argued was unsustainable to cover his rent, thus prompting him to return to Kansas to start over and lead a quieter life where the cost of living was cheaper.

"I decided to go visit this girlfriend in Winona on the way to Kansas. When I got there, it was about 10 pm and here we were, I've gone to a house, we were talking, we went out and we got into an argument.

"I remember the argument was about my usage of money, I didn't have much and there we were splurging and stuff, and this argument didn't just stop in the club, it followed us all the way back home. So here we are arguing at two o'clock and I told her 'You know what, to hell with you, I'm going and I don't want these stories', and then you say you're jumping in the car and leaving," he revealed the encounter with the Kenyan girlfriend.

However, to her credit, she tried to beg Kones not to leave but he already made his decision. 

Drunk and fatigued, Kones embarked on a road trip looking for a place to sleep and happened to find a cheap motel somewhere in Minnesota.

When booking a room there, Kones discovered that his driving licence was missing, thus he had to provide other documentation to identify him, including his Kenyan passport, which would turn out to be his eventual undoing.

"My Kenyan passport was expired and at this point in time, I've been in the US longer than my visa years (five). So this guy (the motelier) noticed, and I believed he called immigration because he gave me a room, I went to bed and was woken up in the morning by the sound of police officers breaking through the door.

"Apparently they had tried to talk to me through some loudspeakers but I was exhausted...I had been driving for long and had been drinking...in fact, I thank God I didn't wake up because they would have shot me because they came in with guns and drones imagining that I was preparing for some sort of retaliation," he went on.

Kones was dragged out of the hotel wearing his shorts and taken to the police station and knowing that US Immigration was after him, he was transferred to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Minneapolis where he was held in solitary confinement for six weeks.

The immigration officials at the time found that he had committed a series of violations while in Kansas and regarding visa regulations that include certain hours with which you can work in the US.

He was then offered two options; to voluntarily return home or be subjected to a process to make him go back home, a process which keeps one hostage for close to 10 years while fighting deportation.

Kones decided on the first option as he was 27 years old at the time with many years ahead of him and with parents who were still able to provide for him.

"I signed up, I decided it was okay and then they decided they would look for a flight, which took time. When they finally found one, I was pulled out of the cells and escorted to the Minneapolis Airport and they made sure that I got on the flight to Amsterdam and then to Nairobi," he added, dismissing that he was in handcuffs because he accepted to be voluntarily deported.

"The moment they escorted me and put me on the flight, I was on my own. In fact, in Amsterdam, I was just roaming...I only had USD20 (Ksh2,941) which the United States government gave me to buy a meal but I was in shorts, t-shirts and sandals."