Scientist and green-card holder detained at San Francisco Airport
A researcher in Texas Lyme Dishals came to the United States of South Korea at the age of 5 and is a long-standing legal resident was detained at San Francisco International Airport for a week, according to his lawyer.
Tae Heung “Will” Kim, 40, returned from his brother’s marriage to South Korea on July 21 when he was withdrawn from the secondary projection for unknown reasons, said Eric Lee, a lawyer who said he could not speak with his client.
Lee said he didn’t know where Kim was now and that Kim had not been authorized to communicate with anyone apart from a brief call last week to his family. An office of the Senate told him that Kim was transferred to an immigration establishment in Texas, while a representative of the Korean consulate told Kim’s family that he was going to be sent elsewhere.
“We don’t know where he’s going to end,” said Lee. “We don’t know why.”
Kim has accusations of possession of marijuana offense of 2011 in his file, but his lawyer wondered if it was the kind of offense that would deserve to be detained in a window without window under the terminals of the airport for a week.
Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Security did not immediately respond to a request for comments from the Times. But a spokesperson for customs and border protection told Washington PostWho first reported history, that “this foreigner is in police custody while waiting for the hearings of referral”.
The spokesperson also said: “If a green card holder is found guilty of drug offense, violating his status, this person receives an appearance notice and CBP coordinates the detention area with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. “”
Kim’s lawyer said that if his client had been detained because he “had a little grass when he was pulled over 15 years ago in their twenties”, it was absurd, adding: “If each American who had a small amount of weeds in their car was owned in these conditions …”
Kim’s mother, Yehoon “Sharon” Lee, told Washington Post that she was worried about the health of her son in detention.
“He has had asthma since he was younger,” she told Washington Post. “I don’t know if he has enough drugs. He wears a inhaler, but I don’t know if it’s enough, because he’s there per week.”
Her mother told the newspaper that she and her husband had entered the United States on business visas in the 1980s, but when they became naturalized citizens, Kim was too old to obtain automatic citizenship.
Kim has a green card and has spent most of his life in the United States after helping his family’s doll manufacturing activities after his father’s death, he recently participated in a doctoral program in Texas A&M and helps seek a Lyme disease vaccine.
There have been several reports at the national level of permanent American residents held in airports, in particular those who have a criminal record, also minor. These cases have prompted some experts to warn that green cards holders should avoid leaving the country, to reduce the risk of not being authorized.
