Dutch National Detained by ICE Without Charges After Jail Sentence Ends
He was preparing to return to the Netherlands, but was taken into ICE custody instead.
Frank Butselaar, a Dutch tax adviser who had just completed a 21-month sentence in a U.S. federal prison, was immediately kidnapped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upon his release, despite having no new charges, no active warrant, and no pending trial.
The kidnapping occurred in Danbury, Connecticut, where Butselaar had served time following his 2022 conviction for helping wealthy clients, among them high-profile Dutch DJs, avoid taxes through offshore structures. Butselaar was originally extradited from Italy and sentenced to 30 months, but qualified for early release due to good behavior.
Instead of returning to the Netherlands a free man, Butselaar was met by ICE agents at the prison gates and placed into immigration detention. According to ICE’s internal policies, non-citizens with certain felony convictions may be flagged for removal, even if they’ve completed their court-ordered punishment. Butselaar’s visa had been revoked upon his conviction, leaving him without lawful status in the eyes of U.S. immigration authorities.
No judge ordered this detention. No hearing preceded it. And no new crime was alleged. ICE acted unilaterally, within the bounds of U.S. immigration law but outside any reasonable definition of justice.
Butselaar now faces the prospect of weeks or months in an ICE detention facility while deportation proceedings play out. As of this writing, neither the Dutch government nor the U.S. State Department has publicly commented on the case.
This practice, what immigration advocates describe as "double punishment", is common in the U.S. criminal-immigration pipeline. Non-citizens often serve their full criminal sentence only to be transferred directly into ICE custody, with little transparency and no legal recourse. In many cases, this includes lawful permanent residents, refugees, and people with strong family ties to the U.S.
Legal analysts note that while the detention may be lawful under current statutes, it raises serious human rights concerns. “This is the state operating like a trapdoor,” one immigration attorney told The Crustian Daily. “You pay your debt, walk out the front door, and fall into a second cage. That’s not justice. That’s bureaucracy with a badge.”
Butselaar’s case may not gain international headlines, but it should. It highlights the U.S. government’s ongoing reliance on administrative detention, even in cases where the courts have already spoken, the sentence has been served, and no future threat has been alleged.