South Korean student transferred to ICE detention center

Ko Yeon-su, a 20-year-old South Korean college student who legally entered the United States with her mother, an Anglican priest, and has been attending an American university, was transferred to a U.S. immigration detention center in Louisiana at 2 a.m. on Aug. 3. She had been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Manhattan. The trip to the Louisiana center takes about 21 hours by car.

ICE confirmed Ko’s transfer to a facility in Louisiana, according to the South Korean Consulate General in New York and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium. Ko is the daughter of the Rev. Kim Ki-ri, the first female priest in the Anglican Diocese of Seoul. She entered the United States in 2021 on an R-2 dependent visa linked to her mother’s R-1 religious worker visa. She completed high school in New York and is currently attending Purdue University in Indiana.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security classified Ko as an undocumented immigrant, saying her R-2 visa became invalid in March when her mother’s R-1 religious worker visa was withdrawn due to a transfer to another diocese. Ko appeared in court on July 31 to explain her case but was taken into custody by ICE agents in front of her mother.

The South Korean Consulate General said Ko was detained even though her hearing had been postponed to Aug. 21. It said it was inquiring about the reason for her transfer to the South while she is scheduled to appear in court soon, as well as ICE’s future plans. The South Korean Consulate General in Houston, which oversees Louisiana, is expected to request consular access to Ko on Aug. 4.


Woo-Sun Lim imsun@donga.com