ICE custody and his safe return to his home and studies in Texas.
Becky Belcore, NAKASEC Co-Director, said: “CBP’s detention of Will and their treatment of Will should alarm every person who values their freedom and rights. Immigrants have been used as a scapegoat for the Trump administration to test the will of the People, and to build the infrastructure to enact an authoritarian regime. We decry the passivity of both the Democrat and Republican parties and their failures to represent all of their residents, and demand their swift action to protect the rights and freedoms that the United States claims to so firmly defend.”
Sharon Lee, Will’s Mom, said: “When my other child called and told me they arrested Will, my heart felt like the sky and earth fell. It feels like the world has ended. I’ve been so worried. We haven’t been able to talk with him. I can’t sleep or eat. As a mother, I want my son to be safe and free.”
Eric Lee, Will’s former pro-bono attorney: “The anti-immigration crackdown that this administration is launching is based on a lie. The goal was never to make America safer, the goal was never to make America healthier. The goal was to create the infrastructure for an attack on the rights of everybody – citizen and noncitizen alike, and that’s why this case is so important.”
“I’ve never seen anyone held that long,” said Karl Krooth, Will’s attorney, referring to CBP’s internal regulation of holding people no more than 72 hours. “A prolonged detention indicates to me that there is a degree of coercion or inducement afoot. While at SFO, [Will] was moved within secondary inspection at least twice per day. He was subject to the lights being on 24 hours a day and there was no natural light at any time. His opportunities for things like exercise and fresh air were completely deprived of him. He was confined to a chair for sleeping. He only had access to concession food and water. He could not have full nights of sleep. He suffered this prolonged detention at CBP – to be housed there for over a week without adequate considerations for his health.”
Background
On Monday, July 21, Will Tae Heung Kim was detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at SFO airport as he returned to the United States from his brother’s wedding. CBP’s own manual declares that a person can only be held for 72 hours, and yet Will was trapped in their custody for over triple that.
Will is a brother, son, student, and lawful permanent resident. A PhD student studying a vaccine for Lyme disease at Texas A&M University, Will has called the U.S. home for over 35 years. Customs and Border Protection effectively disappeared Will – denying him access to his lawyer and refusing to provide information as to his detention and whereabouts. There are reports that Will is being held in a detention facility in Arizona, and his lawyer has not had communication with him since he arrived.
ABOUT NAKASEC
NAKASEC is a national network of five affiliates in six states. NAKASEC’s mission is to organize Korean and Asian Americans toward racial, social, and economic justice, with a focus on humane immigration reform.
