A Texas researcher was held at an airport for over a week. Now he faces deportation
By OLGA R RODRIGUEZ and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO AP A researcher at Texas A M University flying home from abroad was detained for more than a week by immigration agents at the San Francisco International Airport sleeping in a chair and living off food sold in the airport his family and attorneys commented Thursday Related Articles Judge blocks Trump administration from ending protections for from Central America and Nepal ICE says it has made tentative job offers to more than as hiring ramps up Pentagon pulls back more National Guard troops and leaves behind in Los Angeles Ohio city whose Haitian expatriates were disparaged by Trump braces to defend them against deportation Judge considers whether Alligator Alcatraz challenge was filed in wrong venue It was unclear why Tae Heung Will Kim who is a legal permanent resident with a green card was detained July his attorney Karl Krooth noted at a news conference Kim who went to South Korea to attend his brother s wedding is now in removal proceedings to be deported and is being held at an immigration detention facility in Arizona Krooth announced adding that he has yet to talk to his client Customs and Territory line Protection commented in a announcement that any green card holder who has a drug offense is in violation of their legal status and can be detained His attorneys declared Kim was charged in with misdemeanor marijuana possession in Texas where recreational use is illegal His attorneys declined to discuss those charges Thursday But one attorney informed the Washington Post which first revealed on Kim s detention that he fulfilled a locality amenity requirement and successfully petitioned for nondisclosure to seal the offense from the residents record Since returning to the White House President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him American citizens legal permanent residents visa holders and visitors have been stopped at airports and detained for days Certain have faced deportation for minor infractions Kim has spent majority of of his life in the U S arriving at the age of After helping out in his family s doll-manufacturing business following the death of his father he in the past few days entered a doctoral project at Texas A M and is helping to research a vaccine for Lyme disorder His attorney explained holding Kim at the airport denied him his right to due process The airport is not a detention facility The airport is not in the immigration courtroom And Customs and Territory line Protection officers are interrogators they are not neutral arbiters he announced Krooth declared his client was moved between two small rooms in the daytime at the airport He was moved within what s called secondary inspection at least twice per day from one area where there were no windows Krooth disclosed At night he was moved to another room where he slept in a chair Krooth noted An airport spokesperson noted in an email that the airport is not notified when CBP denies entry to a client referring inquiries to federal functionaries His attorneys were not allowed access and Kim while he was at the airport and he was given only one phone call and periodic texts with his brother There has been no communication with Kim since he s been transferred to Arizona Krooth revealed Kim s mother Yehoon Sharon Lee reported reporters Thursday through an interpreter that her son has asthma and she worries about him getting proper healthcare care in detention Lee described the Washington Post that she and her husband entered the U S on business visas in the s and by the time they became naturalized citizens Kim was too old to get automatic citizenship Weber published from Los Angeles