submitted by rjohn@augsburg.edu
Yesterday, Associate Professor Mzenga Wanyama and his wife, Mary, had a check-in appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The outcome of the meeting was that ICE has given the Wanyamas 90 days to depart the United States.
Friends and supporters of the Wanyamas, including members of the Augsburg community, Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, attended a rally outside the ICE offices before yesterday’s meeting. Earlier in the week, the offices of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton reached out to the assistant field office directors in the ICE office requesting that ICE continue to exercise its prosecutorial discretion in allowing Dr. Wanyama to stay in the U.S. to pursue a new J-1 waiver application and a motion to reopen based on changed country conditions in his home country of Kenya.
Following the meeting, Augsburg issued a statement from President Pribbenow. Click the link below to access the statement and additional updates.