Green Card Holder Detained at SFO Raises Alarm Over Trump-Era Immigration Crackdown

Updated 1:20 p.m. Friday

A permanent U.S. resident who was detained by federal law enforcement at San Francisco International Airport for a week is now being held at an immigration detention center, according to one of his lawyers.

Tae “Will” Heung Kim, a Korean-born Lyme disease researcher who has been in the U.S. since he was 5, was held in Customs and Border Protection’s facility with “no daylight, sleeping in [a] chair, and no access to [a] lawyer,” attorney Eric Lee posted on the social media website X this week.

“There’s a certain historic, dark historical resonance to the fact that an Asian person was coming to San Francisco and kept for a week in deplorable, inhumane conditions,” Lee told KQED, referring to the treatment Asian immigrants faced on Angel Island. “This administration is dredging up everything dirty and mucky from American history and flinging it for all of us to see.”

Kim had arrived at SFO on a connecting flight to Texas after traveling from South Korea, according to Lee.

A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why Kim was detained. Supporters of Kim have suggested that a 14-year-old misdemeanor marijuana possession charge could be the reason for his detention.

“If people were subject to the type of conditions that he was subjected to this last week because of minor marijuana possession, over half the country would be in jail,” said Lee, who confirmed Kim’s previous charge.

A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection said that “this alien is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”

“If a green card holder is convicted of a drug offense, violating their status, that person is issued a Notice to Appear and CBP coordinates detention space with ICE ERO,” the agency said.

In a letter calling for Kim’s release, the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium said the case highlights broader concerns.

“It spotlights the urgent need for accountability and transparency in federal detention practices and upholds the fundamental rights of those who call America home,” the organization, which organizes around Asian American immigrant issues, said.

Lee called the case a “double whammy” because of Kim’s role as a Lyme disease researcher.

“What you’re seeing here is an individual who is, as a result of the administration’s crackdown, not able to participate in really critical scientific research to develop a vaccine for a disease that impacts the lives of millions of people,” Lee said. “That’s why I think this case has particularly significant implications for the future.”

Kim’s detention comes amid a broader ramp-up of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. In recent months, immigration attorneys have warned that lawful permanent residents — like Kim — risk being detained if they travel abroad, according to NPR.

Since Trump took office in January, ICE arrests in the San Francisco area of responsibility have increased 70% compared with the last six months of the Biden administration, according to analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle.

“As an immigration lawyer, to see this type of thing happen is staggering,” Lee said. “Every day there’s some new Rubicon of horrors, which is being crossed.”

KQED’s Brian Krans contributed to this story.