The detention of Yeonsoo Go, a 20-year-old Purdue University student and the daughter of an Episcopal priest, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sparked protests and raised urgent questions about her legal status and the agency’s enforcement tactics. Go was arrested on July 31, 2025, immediately after attending what her representatives describe as a routine visa hearing in Manhattan.
Go, who had just completed her freshman year in the College of Pharmacy at Purdue, attended the hearing at the Federal Plaza Immigration Court with her mother, the Rev. Kyrie Kim. According to her lawyer, a judge granted her a continuance and scheduled a new court date for October. However, upon exiting the courthouse, she was met by ICE agents and taken into custody. She was initially held at a federal facility in Manhattan before being transferred to the Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, a move her family reportedly discovered through online records.
The circumstances surrounding Go’s detention are contested. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims she was arrested for overstaying a visa. “Go was arrested and placed in expedited removal proceedings after overstaying a visa ‘that expired more than two years ago,’” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CNN. “The fact of the matter is those who are in our country illegally have a choice –they can leave the country voluntarily or be arrested and deported.”
However, Go’s family and legal team present a starkly different narrative. They maintain that she entered the U.S. legally in March 2021 on an R-2 dependent visa, as her mother, Rev. Kim, serves in the Asian ministry of the Episcopal Diocese in New York. Rev. Kim is notably the first woman ordained in the Seoul Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea. An attorney for the diocese, Mary Davis, stated that Go’s current visa does not expire until December 2025 and that the hearing was part of her application to extend it. Go’s supporters argue she was complying with all legal requirements. “They thought they had come for a routine hearing, for due process, and they really fell into a black hole of unknown,” Davis told a CNN affiliate.
The arrest has triggered a swift and vocal response from faith and immigrant advocacy groups. On Saturday, August 2, supporters from the Episcopal Diocese of New York, the Interfaith Center of New York, and the New York Immigration Coalition gathered at Manhattan’s Federal Plaza to demand her release. “These detentions are not only illegal, but they’re immoral,” the Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd of the Episcopal Diocese of New York said, referencing the poor conditions at the initial holding facility, which reportedly lacked beds or hot meals, according to Newsweek.
Go’s father, Sorg-young Go, expressed his heartbreak over the situation. “It’s heartbreaking that this happened just as she was preparing for her second year. She’s a bright, outgoing girl with many friends,” he told CNN. Her boyfriend, Leo Chu, recounted that she was “terrified” and “breaking down” in a call from detention.
The case has drawn attention amid the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and its policies targeting “sanctuary cities” like New York. It also follows another recent detention that concerned the Korean-American community, involving Tae Heung “Will” Kim, a PhD student and green card holder who was detained at San Francisco International Airport. Purdue University has stated that its dean of students’ office has reached out to Go’s family. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also confirmed it is providing consular assistance. As her family and supporters continue to fight for her release, Go’s case highlights the profound anxieties and legal complexities facing many navigating the U.S. immigration system.
