A Texas researcher was held at an airport for over a week. Now he faces deportation
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 noted Thursday 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 commented 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 disclosed adding that he has yet to talk to his client Customs and Territory line Protection explained in a declaration that any green card holder who has a drug offense is in violation of their legal status and can be detained His attorneys explained 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 recounted the Washington Post which first revealed on Kim s detention that he fulfilled a area operation requirement and successfully petitioned for nondisclosure to seal the offense from the masses 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 Several have faced deportation for minor infractions Kim has spent the bulk 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 not long ago entered a doctoral undertaking at Texas A M and is helping to research a vaccine for Lyme sickness His attorney revealed 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 Boundary Protection officers are interrogators they are not neutral arbiters he disclosed Krooth stated 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 announced At night he was moved to another room where he slept in a chair Krooth declared An airport spokesperson reported in an email that the airport is not notified when CBP denies entry to a voyager referring inquiries to federal authorities 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 stated Kim s mother Yehoon Sharon Lee recounted reporters Thursday through an interpreter that her son has asthma and she worries about him getting proper medicinal care in detention Lee notified 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 communicated from Los Angeles Source
