A Northern Irish hairdresser who says he was married to a U.S. citizen was arrested on a Florida street, held for about a month in U.S. immigration detention and deported to Britain after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer allegedly told him, "You look Mexican," according to interviews with the man.

Lee Stinton, 45, told The Belfast Telegraph and posted about the episode on social media that the officer stopped him on his way to work in Key West, looked at a phone screensaver showing him with his partner and allegedly added, "He looks Haitian. This might be a two-for-one deal today." Stinton said he was shackled, taken to the Krome Detention Center near Miami and held in an overcrowded concrete cell; he said he was deported to London and later returned to Northern Ireland on July 12.

Stinton described conditions inside the facility as grim, saying food and showers were limited and that medical care was routinely denied. He alleged he witnessed a man pleading for heart medication for days before collapsing and dying of a heart attack in front of other detainees. He also said medical procedures were carried out without his consent, including the removal of subdermal piercings while he was restrained, and that he was issued a blue detainee uniform marked "low custody."

The Belfast Telegraph reported that British consular officials were not promptly notified of his detention. Stinton told reporters he had no criminal record, had never been in trouble with the law and had been complying with U.S. government requirements. He said he has since returned to Lisburn, Northern Ireland, is undergoing therapy for post-traumatic stress and has resumed part-time hairdressing work while trying to rebuild his life.

Stinton framed the experience as part of an intensification of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, saying on social media that the episode was "one of the most unjust and cruel experiences under President Trump's regime" and that he hoped his story would help others who have gone through similar situations.

The reports said the Daily Mail had reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment. The Telegraph and Daily Mail accounts indicate Stinton's version of events but ICE comment on the specific arrest and detention had not been reported in those pieces.

ICE has conducted high-profile enforcement operations in Florida. In May the agency announced more than 1,100 arrests in a single week and emphasized a focus on people with criminal convictions. Stinton's account, as reported, portrays what he called collateral arrests of people without criminal records and offers an account of conditions inside a detention facility that he described as overcrowded and lacking adequate medical care.

Advocates and legal experts have in past years raised concerns about detention conditions and the treatment of noncitizens in immigration custody, and consular notification to foreign governments has been a recurring topic when citizens or nationals of other countries are detained abroad. The reporting on Stinton's case does not include independent verification of all his allegations, and officials had not, as of the publication of the reports, provided a public response to the detailed claims.

Stinton said he had never received onward travel arrangements after being removed to London and that he ultimately made his way back to Northern Ireland. He told reporters he believes sharing his experience will "set the record straight" and serve as support to others he says may have faced similar treatment. The outlets that published his account said they had sought comment from both ICE and Stinton following the initial reports.