A Kenyan man who was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas, United States, has chosen to return to Kenya to escape further detention.
James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi was in ICE custody for a period of two months. He was being held by ICE in Texas despite holding a valid work permit that allowed him to work with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
According to a report that was published by the Houston Chronicle, James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi had an ongoing asylum case but he was denied bail by an immigration judge.
The Kenyan was first pulled over by local police in Huntsville. The police then alerted ICE and he was arrested. His lawyer Laban Opande said that it was not clear why the local police had initiated the stop.
According to the publication, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had said that Mwangi had valid work authorization and that he was verified through E-Verify, the electronic employment verification system that state agencies are require to use.
However, a spokesperson for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that the priest had overstayed a visa. The spokesperson noted that he was ordered to leave the United States in May 2024.
Mwangi is the second Kenyan to voluntarily opt to return to Kenya to escape ICE. Sam Kang’ethe self-deported from the United States in the summer of 2025.
He took this bold decision when it dawned on him that he was facing two choices: to either return to Kenya on his own volition or face the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which was itching to arrest and deport him.
“I resigned to go back to Kenya in May 2025,” he told the media, adding that his wife had prepared their kids about their father’s imminent departure from the United States.
He had a court case in court whose hearing was scheduled to take place in January 2026. He was planning to present evidence that the ruling by the immigration official was wrong. However, having a pending court case could not prevent ICE from going after him. Apparently, with the ruling by the immigration official, Kang’ethe was legally deportable.
“You see people being picked up when they drop their kids off at school. And these were the kind of things I used to do. I cannot imagine myself taking my kids to school and then being picked up by the ICE,” said Kang’ethe during an interview with local media.
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