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(KTLA) – A 31-year-old Danish national who was going through the naturalization process after living in the U.S. for more than 10 years was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials during a routine appointment to finalize his citizenship, according to multiple media reports.  

Kasper Eriksen, a green card holder with no criminal record, works as a welder in Sturgis, Mississippi, where he lives with his wife and four children. On April 15, he was unexpectedly taken into custody and later transferred to the LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana, Newsweek reported.

The 31-year-old, according to his wife, Savannah Hobart Eriksen, first moved to the U.S. as an exchange student in 2009 and returned to Denmark.  

He returned to the U.S. legally in 2013 after he and his wife married and he began the legal process of becoming an American citizen. In September 2024, according to the outlet, the Eriksens received word that his application was under review, and, on March 7, an interview for his naturalization application was scheduled.  

ICE officials reportedly detained the 31-year-old for failing to file a single document, due in 2015, around the same time the couple lost their first child in a stillbirth. While grieving their loss, they forgot to file Form I-751, the Mississippi Free Press reported.  

More than a month later, the Danish national remains in a Louisiana detention center with dozens of other detainees, unsure about his future, where he might get sent, and without a date scheduled for a court to hear his case.  

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Newsweek, “Kasper Eriksen, a Danish national, is in our country illegally. He failed to show up for his immigration hearing on April 2, 2019. He has a final order of removal from an immigration judge. This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”

“This situation has not only detained Kasper but has also placed an emotional, mental burden upon our children and me,” Savannah, a stay-at-home mom who homeschools their children, told the news outlet. “The financial strain of paying our regular bills and attorney/court fees, however, we are thankful we have friends and our community for their love and support.”  

In a GoFundMe campaign organized on behalf of the Eriksen family, Kasper is described a devoted father and husband, a proud landowner in the U.S. with a valid driver’s license and social security number, who has always paid his taxes.