NEW YORK (PIX11) — Yeonsoo Go, the Scarsdale High School honors graduate who was detained by ICE last Thursday, has now been released, after having been transferred to a facility in Louisiana and then brought back to New York.
Her release from 26 Federal Plaza, just before 8 p.m., came after protests this past weekend outside of the Lower Manhattan federal building, with another rally scheduled for this Thursday in Scarsdale.
“Everything just feels surreal,” said Go, 20, as she was walked out of federal detention with her mother, Rev. Kyrie Kim. Rev. Kim is the first female ordained Episcopal priest in South Korea. She’s in Scarsdale on a visa sponsored by the Episcopal Church in the United States. Go, who graduated from Scarsdale High last year and is now a college student at Purdue University, has been in the U.S. with her, on a religious dependent visa, since 2021.
“I was praying hard,” she said about her detention in the two locations.
DHS claimed Go’s visa expired two years ago, calling her an illegal alien.
Go, who goes by her nickname, Soo, headed off to her home in Scarsdale, where she lives with her mother, Rev. Kim, who pointed out that so many other detainees are not as fortunate as her daughter. She said that church leaders and elected officials have been advocating for Go’s release. A state assemblymember, Amy Paulin, had planned a rally for Go in Scarsdale on Thursday.
On Monday, there was quiet relief by mother and daughter, and concern for other people Yeonsoo Go had encountered while locked up here and in Louisiana.
“It’s not [just] Soo in this situation,” Rev. Kim, her mother, said. “There are more, maybe, those in need of support.”
“I’m just happy that she’s with me,” she said.
