(KENTUCKY) An Irish grandmother who has lived in the United States since she was 11 is set to face a deportation hearing on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, in Kentucky, after U.S. immigration authorities detained her over a $25 cheque she wrote a decade ago and repaid in full. The case of 58-year-old Donna Hughes-Brown, a legal U.S. resident for nearly 50 years, has drawn intense scrutiny because it rests on a minor misdemeanor now deemed a “crime of moral turpitude” under immigration rules, and because it is unfolding after recent changes to federal immigration law expanded the grounds for deportation.
Hughes-Brown was arrested on July 29, 2025, at Chicago O’Hare International Airport as she returned from Ireland, where she had attended a funeral and visited family in Cork and Drogheda. She had been cleared by U.S. officials at Dublin Airport, which hosts U.S. preclearance, but was detained on arrival in Chicago and later transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Kentucky. Her family says the basis for the detention is a 2015 infraction involving a $25 cheque; she paid restitution and received probation at the time, but the U.S. government now classifies the offense as a “crime of moral turpitude,” a legal category for conduct it describes as “inherently base, vile, or depraved.”
Her husband, Jim Brown, a U.S. Navy veteran, has pushed back against the government’s stance and the decision to hold his wife in custody while the case proceeds.
“She’s been in this country 47 years, is married, with five kids and five grandkids, and you’re telling me she’s a flight risk?” he said. “You don’t arrest 58-year-old grandmothers. It’s just wrong. She hasn’t committed crimes. You just don’t do that.”
He described the process as bewildering and punitive for a family rooted in the United States and said he hoped the deportation hearing would bring her home to their horse farm in Troy, Missouri.
The detention has also highlighted conditions inside the facility, which Donna has described as “deplorable.” According to Brown, his wife was moved to an isolation cell after refusing food that did not meet her medically advised low sodium diet.
“They tried to feed her hot dogs and chilli mac… She probably told them after the fifth time they tried to serve her, ‘I’m not eating that.’ So they locked her up. I haven’t heard from her in three days now,” he said.
He added: “It’s egregious that we have allowed a government to allow this to happen.” In a separate published account, her treatment was summarized this way: “The Irish grandmother and charity volunteer has described conditions in the immigration detention camp as ‘deplorable,’ as reported by The Irish Times.”
Hughes-Brown’s arrest and detention come in the wake of federal immigration changes signed by President Donald Trump on July 24, 2025 as part of legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The law amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow deportation or denial of entry to any foreign-born resident found in violation of any law in the previous 20 years, a sweeping lookback that immigration attorneys and advocates say can pull in long-settled residents for minor offenses that were resolved years ago. In Hughes-Brown’s case, the decade-old $25 cheque that once led to probation is now central to whether she remains in the country she has called home for most of her life.
Brown said he has written to Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and state senators seeking help, but said his family was told the case is a federal issue outside their authority. He also contacted the regional Irish Consulate, which he said told him “they can’t do anything legally.” Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it is providing consular assistance to Hughes-Brown but declined to comment on the details of her case.
The family’s lawyer has twice asked for Hughes-Brown to be released on bond, but courts refused both requests, Brown said. He gathered 40 character witnesses to vouch for her, including neighbors and people who work with the family through their community activities.
“I thought she would be in court and out, but it has now turned into a crisis,” he said.
The deportation hearing is expected to test how the revised statute is applied to long-term legal residents with minor, previously resolved offenses, and whether immigration judges will exercise discretion in cases where the underlying conduct involved a small amount of money and no violent behavior.
Hughes-Brown is known in her Missouri community for organizing food boxes for families in need and for volunteering during major hurricanes, friends and supporters said. She and Brown live on a horse farm in Troy, where they raised their family and built close ties over decades. Supporters say the idea that a $25 cheque could upend that life feels wildly out of proportion to the original misdemeanor. Brown framed it bluntly as a question of fairness and common sense, saying the label of “moral turpitude” should not be applied to a grandmother with deep roots in the United States.
The family’s finances have been strained by legal fees, prompting friend Diana Buretta to launch a GoFundMe campaign that has raised 88% of its $6,500 goal, including a top donation of $500, to cover attorney costs and related expenses. Buretta called the couple “very strong community helpers” who “have worked hard to grow their farm.” Brown said the outpouring of support has given him hope as he waits for the hearing. The campaign and informal donations from neighbors have helped pay for filings, document requests, and the costs of coordinating testimony and character statements that the lawyer plans to present.
The most immediate issue is whether Hughes-Brown will be ordered removed or allowed to remain in the United States following the deportation hearing, a proceeding that falls under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department’s immigration courts. Such hearings determine whether the government has proved the grounds for deportation and whether any relief is available. Information about immigration court procedures is available from the Executive Office for Immigration Review. In many cases, outcomes can turn on the specific statutory ground cited by the government, whether the offense meets the legal definition of a deportable act, and the evidence and witness testimony presented.
Hughes-Brown’s supporters argue that her case shows how the expanded 20-year lookback can sweep in low-level infractions that were already resolved by state courts years earlier. Brown emphasized that his wife made full restitution for the $25 cheque and completed probation. He believes that should have closed the matter and that raising it now to justify detention and possible deportation does not match the underlying conduct or her life in the United States.
“You don’t arrest 58-year-old grandmothers. It’s just wrong. She hasn’t committed crimes. You just don’t do that.”
The government’s classification of the 2015 offense as a “crime of moral turpitude” is central to the legal arguments. In immigration law, that term has long served as a catch-all for conduct considered “inherently base, vile, or depraved.” While federal agencies and courts have, over decades, wrestled with how to apply the label to state criminal statutes, the new law’s 20-year window increases the number of past acts that could be pulled into deportation proceedings. The Hughes-Brown case underscores how that expansion can affect people with otherwise clean records and deep family and community ties.
Brown said his wife’s health concerns, including the need for a low sodium diet, have been compounded by what he describes as punitive measures inside the detention facility.
“They tried to feed her hot dogs and chilli mac… She probably told them after the fifth time they tried to serve her, ‘I’m not eating that.’ So they locked her up. I haven’t heard from her in three days now,” he said.
The family says the most pressing concern, beyond the deportation hearing itself, is that she is safe and can speak to them regularly.
Her legal team has assembled statements from 40 character witnesses as they prepare for court, Brown said, including teachers, neighbors, and people who have worked with Donna Hughes-Brown through church and charity programs. The aim is to show the judge that the woman at the center of this case is not a threat or a flight risk but a long-settled resident whose life is intertwined with her community in Troy. Brown said the family’s five grandchildren ask daily when “Nana” is coming home, and he worries that a case rooted in a $25 cheque could separate a grandmother from a family she has anchored for decades.
The family’s attempts to seek help from elected officials have run into the hard limits of jurisdiction. Brown said he wrote to Governor Mike Kehoe’s office and to Missouri state senators, only to be told that immigration enforcement and deportation proceedings are strictly federal. The family then reached out to the regional Irish Consulate, which Brown said told him “they can’t do anything legally,” though they have stayed in contact and offered support within their remit. Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is providing consular assistance but would not discuss specifics, citing privacy and ongoing proceedings.
As the hearing date approaches, Brown is bracing for a process that can move quickly. He said he hopes that the judge will consider the totality of his wife’s life in the United States and the small sum at the center of the case. He stressed that Donna has no history of violence or other criminal conduct beyond the 2015 matter and that she has volunteered in disasters and organized food boxes for families who needed help. To him, these facts show a person who has contributed to her community for decades and who deserves to have her case judged with that context in mind.
The case has become a quiet rallying point among neighbors and friends, who have shared the GoFundMe link and offered rides, meals, and help watching the farm. Brown credited people from Troy and the wider Missouri community for stepping in as he juggles daily chores and legal calls. He said their lawyer will present the restitution proof for the $25 cheque, the probation records, and documentation of Hughes-Brown’s legal residency in the United States since childhood. The family will also present letters detailing her volunteer work during major hurricanes and her efforts running food box drives.
For now, the central facts are not in dispute: a 58-year-old legal resident, married to a U.S. Navy veteran and living on a Missouri horse farm, was detained at O’Hare in late July over a $25 cheque written in 2015. The government has classified that offense as a “crime of moral turpitude” and is pursuing deportation under a law signed this summer that allows removal for any violation of law in the past 20 years. Her husband says the conditions have been “deplorable” and that she was placed in isolation after refusing high-sodium food. Bond was denied twice, despite 40 character witnesses. A GoFundMe stands at 88% of its $6,500 goal, with a top donation of $500. And a family in Troy is waiting for a judge’s decision that will determine whether Donna returns to their farm or leaves the United States.
“‘Deportation hearing’ is a phrase you never think will touch your family,” Brown said, reflecting on the months since her arrest.
He said he will be in court on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, with the witness letters and the paperwork proving restitution for the $25 cheque. He hopes the judge will look at his wife, consider the decades she has lived in the United States, and conclude that a small mistake from 2015 should not outweigh a lifetime of family and community ties.
Hughes-Brown’s arrest and detention come in the wake of federal immigration changes signed by President Donald Trump on July 24, 2025 as part of legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The law amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow deportation or denial of entry to any foreign-born resident found in violation of any law in the previous 20 years, a sweeping lookback that immigration attorneys and advocates say can pull in long-settled residents for minor offenses that were resolved years ago. Information about the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is available from the White House’s summary of the legislation, titled One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
This Article in a Nutshell
Donna Hughes-Brown, a 58-year-old Irish legal resident who came to the U.S. at age 11, was detained July 29, 2025 at Chicago O’Hare over a 2015 $25 cheque she repaid. Authorities now label the infraction a “crime of moral turpitude” and seek deportation under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s 20-year lookback. Bond was denied twice despite 40 character witnesses. The case raises questions about applying the expanded statute to longtime residents and about detention conditions in Kentucky.
