Daughter of priest, 20, released from ICE detention after arrest during routine court hearing

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

A Purdue University student and the daughter of a pioneering Episcopal priest has finally been released after she was arrested and placed into custody after attending what was supposed to be a routine immigration court hearing.
Yeonsoo Go, 20, who arrived in the US from South Korea in 2021 on an R-2 visa, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last Thursday outside the federal courthouse at Federal Plaza in Manhattan.
On Monday, there were scenes of joy just after 8pm as mother and daughter were reunited at the very same place where her arrest took place - 26 Federal Plaza.
Photographers were there to capture the moment as tears flowed between the two women who ran into each other's outstretched arms and embraced one another.
Days earlier Go was arrested by ICE. The move ignited fury across faith communities, civil rights groups, and Korean American advocacy organizations.
Go's attorney insisted her visa is active and valid through the end of this year, while the Department of Homeland Security says it expired more than two years ago.
Monday evening's release came after protests this past weekend outside of the Lower Manhattan federal building.
'Everything just feels surreal,' said Go to PIX11 as she was walked out of federal detention with her mother, Rev. Kyrie Kim and headed back to Scarsdale, New York.
'I was praying hard,' she said when asked her detention at Federal Plaza and in Louisiana where she also spent several days.
Her mother Rev. Kyrie Kim, is a trailblazing Episcopal priest and first woman ordained in the Seoul Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea.
She is working in Scarsdale on a visa sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the United States.
Go, who graduated from Scarsdale High last year is currently a college student at Purdue University and had been in the country on a religious dependent visa, since 2021.
Rev. Kim noted how so many other detainees are not as fortunate as her daughter.
'It's not [just] Soo in this situation,' Rev. Kim said. 'There are more, maybe, those in need of support.
'I'm just happy that she's with me,' she said.
Church leaders and elected officials had been pushing for Go's release with another rally planned for Thursday.
Mary Rothwell Davis, attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of New York, told 13News Go was released to her mother on her own recognizance, but did not know any other terms of the release.
'We are hopeful she will be back at Purdue in the next few weeks,' she said.
Rothwell Davis also said Go was given a hearing date for her visa status in late August.
Go was arrested last Thursday after what she thought had been a regular immigration meeting. But as she left the courtroom ICE agents were waiting for her outside.
According to advocacy groups and church leaders, five plainclothes officers surrounded Go and detained her. No warrant was presented at the scene, and she was not given the opportunity to speak further with her attorney.
Last week, officials with the Department of Homeland Security offered a starkly different version of events.
'Yeonsoo Go, an illegal alien from South Korea, overstayed her visa that expired more than two years ago,' DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
'President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the US. ICE arrested her on July 31 and placed her in expedited removal proceedings.'
But her attorney said such assertion was false.
No warrant was presented at the scene, and Go was not given the opportunity to speak further with her attorney before being taken away
'She has a valid visa that expires in December 2025, and she has a pending application for extension,' said a legal representative for Go.
'The judge was satisfied enough to continue the case until October. There was no indication that she was to be taken into custody.'
Since her arrest, Go was held in an ICE holding facility at 26 Federal Plaza, a building that clergy say is unfit for human confinement. She was also moved to Louisiana before being brought back to New York.
The incident has triggered an immediate wave of protests and condemnation from across the religious and immigrant rights landscape.
On Saturday, faith leaders, elected officials, and immigration advocates stood shoulder-to-shoulder outside the ICE building in lower Manhattan to demanding her release.
By Monday, their prayers were answered.
'We call for the end of weaponization in our courts,' Bishop Heyd declared to a crowd of supporters and reporters. 'We stand up for a New York and a country that respects the dignity of every person.'
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) joined the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Interfaith Center of New York to organize the press conference.
Posters demanding Go's release were plastered on the courthouse fence, alongside flowers and handwritten notes of support from local high school classmates.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of NYIC, warned others with pending hearings to be vigilant.
'I think it's critically important that anyone who needs to go to an immigration court hearing call the New York State Office of New Americans and their hotline,' Awawdeh said.
'Make a family preparedness plan. If possible, work with a lawyer to set up a virtual hearing.'
Korean American community leaders say the episode is part of a disturbing trend of rising enforcement actions targeting Korean nationals regardless of their legal status.
Go's case echoes the recent detention of Tae Heung Will Kim, a Korean green card holder and Texas resident who was taken into custody at San Francisco International Airport last month.
Kim, a Ph.D. student, was held at the airport for more than a week before being transferred to an ICE facility in Arizona.
His family has not received information about his condition or location.
As outrage builds, activists are demanding urgent federal oversight and accountability for what they say is a pattern of unjustified enforcement.