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PhD candidate detained at SFO despite green card, denied lawyer access and medication

Jul 28, 2025·Location: San Francisco, CA

Country of origin: South Korea

PhD candidate detained at SFO despite green card, denied lawyer access and medication
Photo via koreanquarterly.org

Tae Heung "Will" Kim, a Korean American green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since age 5 and whose mother is a U.S. citizen, was detained by CBP at San Francisco International Airport on July 21, 2025, upon returning from his brother's wedding in South Korea. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University researching a vaccine for Lyme disease. Kim was held for more than a week without access to legal counsel, his asthma medication, sunlight, or a bed to sleep in, with lights kept on continuously in his holding room, before being transferred to detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. His attorney, Eric Lee, said a CBP supervisor told him the Constitution did not apply to Kim and that deportation proceedings were based on a 2011 misdemeanor marijuana charge for which Kim had completed community service.

Timeline

Jul 28, 2025—Kim transferred to detention facilities in Arizona and Texas after more than a week in initial custody
Jul 21, 2025—Tae Heung Kim detained by CBP at San Francisco Airport upon returning from South Korea; held without legal counsel
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