ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Latest on an Augsburg University professor who faces possible deportation to Kenya (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
A Minnesota college professor says immigration officials have given him 90 days to show he has a path to regain his legal status or else leave the country.
Augsburg University professor Mzenga Wanyama spoke to dozens of supporters who rallied Thursday in front of the Fort Snelling office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After checking in with ICE officials, Wanyama told his supporters that he is “still hopeful despite of what they told us in there.”
Wanyama moved to the U.S. from Kenya in 1992 on a student visa. He was denied asylum after his visa expired, and the Star Tribune reports his attorney is working on an application to reopen his case based on conditions in Kenya.
Wanyama fears his political views might endanger him if he is deported to Kenya.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton wrote a letter this week to the acting director of ICE asking him not to report the professor.
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Above item from Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
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2:15 p.m.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is asking immigration officials not to deport a professor at Augsburg University to Kenya.
Dayton sent a letter Wednesday to Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking him to allow Mzenga Wanyama to stay in the United States.
Dayton calls Wanyama “a great asset to Minnesota” and says deporting him would be “a terrible loss to the hundreds of students he influences” and also to his family and friends.
Wanyama moved to the U.S. from Kenya in 1992 on a student visa. He was denied asylum after his visa expired, but accepted a deal that required him to report to ICE on a regular basis.
Wanyama met with ICE Thursday. The agency has said it intends to carry out the court order.
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Corrects ’Augsburg College’ to ’Augsburg University.’
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