Mississippi dad's 10-year-old mistake lands him in ICE detention after final citizenship interview

Daily Mail​

23-05-2025

A Danish father living in Mississippi was detained by ICE during the final stage of his US citizenship process because of a decade-old paperwork error.
Kasper Juul Eriksen, 32, a father-of-four with another on the way, thought he was attending a routine citizenship appointment in Memphis, Tennessee on April 15.
Legally living in the US with his pregnant wife Savannah for more than 10 years, Kasper would have never imagined this meeting would end in misery.
Now, as his wife prepares to give birth to their fifth child, Erikson remains in legal limbo at an ICE detention center in Louisiana.
The welder first came to America as an exchange student in 2009, when he met the love of his life at a Starkville, Mississippi high school.
At the conclusion of his academic program, Kasper went back to Denmark for four years, maintaining a long-distance relationship with Savannah and planning to return to be with her.
In 2013, the young couple was reunited when Kasper got a welding job in Mississippi. The pair married the following year - finally getting the happily ever after they were patiently waiting for.
Since then, the green card holder has been working towards US naturalization for years - a process he and his wife believed was going flawlessly.
The US government sent Kasper a letter in September 2024, stating his application was being reviewed. No questions about his paperwork were asked, Savannah told Mississippi Today.
So when Kasper was swarmed by immigration agents at the April meeting, the couple was absolutely horrified.
Savannah was dismissed from the office with no explanation about why her husband was being taken into custody or where he was going, she claimed.
She spent the three-hour ride back to Sturgis, Mississippi panicked and afraid.
They were later informed 'Kasper was detained for a paperwork miscommunication from 2015,' Savannah told the outlet.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services found an error in Kasper's application for removal of conditions on his residency, which is a form immigrants fill out when marrying Americans.
Kasper, who has a clean record and steady job, was allegedly never told about any logistical discrepancies before he was torn away from his family last month.
'The next 24 hours would, without a doubt, (be) the most frightening and stressful I have ever experienced, as I pined for my husband and some kind of communication to confirm his safety and whereabouts,' the devastated wife said.
She later learned he was locked away at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana.
Kasper's lawyers have been fiercely advocating for his release, arguing he was wrongfully detained.
'Kasper is a fully integrated, productive member of society,' Savannah told Mississippi Today.
'While Kasper embodies all the positive qualities of a hard-working man in pursuit of the American Dream, he never forgets his family and friends.
'He spends time with us and takes the time to give each of his children the attention and fatherly love they deserve.'
A judge must rule on the petition Kasper's lawyers filed for his freedom. But Savannah said there is no court date scheduled.
A GoFundMe created to support Kasper's family - as he his the household's sole provider - has raised more than $29,000 so far.
'As a homeschooling mother, we are completely dependent on Kasper's income. Legal fees are mounting as are living expenses with our sole provider being detained for over a month now,' Savannah wrote on the page.
During the first 100 days of Donald Trump's second presidential term, during which he vowed to crackdown on illegal immigration, more than 66,400 migrants have been arrested by ICE, the agency reports.
Roughly 65,700 have been removed from the country. The agency claims that three out of four arrests are criminals.
'The brave men and women of ICE protect our families, friends and neighbors by removing public safety and national security threats from our communities,' ICE acting Director Todd M. Lyons declared at the end of April.
'We're just 100 days into this administration and thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is using every tool at its disposal to enforce our country's immigration laws and protect our communities.'
United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has championed Trump's crusade against illegal aliens, even warning migrants to leave the US before they are captured by ICE.
'President Trump has a clear message: if you are here illegally, we will find you and deport you,' she said in February.