Several area organisations marched at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday, October 28, calling on the university's leadership to stand up for Paul Essel, the university's grants accounting manager, who has been held at the Greene County Jail on a hold for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since October 7.

Source: KSMU Ozarks Public Radio

The march and rally, held outside Carrington Hall and backed by groups including the NAACP and the Southern Missouri Immigration Alliance (SMIA), called for Essel's release and for university leaders to speak out. Essel, originally from Ghana, entered the United States legally in 2003 and has lived and worked in Springfield for most of the 23 years since.

"He's not a criminal" — his wife addresses the rally

Pearl Essel, his wife, spoke in front of Carrington Hall about what life has been like since the arrest. The couple have three children, and their teenage nieces also live with them. "Those who know my husband know him. He's not a criminal. He's worked hard. He loves this country. He's loved this country since he's been here," she said. "And for the system to treat him this way, it's very hard. But even in all this, we still have faith." She said the community has been very supportive since her husband's arrest, that she is grateful, and that she is ready for whatever happens.

Dominique Moore, the founder of SMIA, is Essel's neighbour. She said the case shows that detention is reaching people far beyond the large raids seen in cities such as Minneapolis. "Unfortunately, because it's a figure that doesn't really fit the mold of the national narrative, that it can really show the community that it's been long enough where we've dealt with this. Twenty months is long enough for the immigration crackdown that has been happening," she said. "And it's time for us to do exactly what we've been chanting for the last 20 months and stand up and fight back." Of Essel himself, she said neighbours are not as connected as they used to be, "but he made it a point to come introduce himself to my family while we were playing Frisbee in the front yard. That is the person that Paul is."

What the university says

Missouri State has called Essel a valued, long-standing member of the university community and an employee in good standing. He attended Missouri State as a student and earned two graduate degrees there between 2008 and 2014, including a master's degree in business administration; he began working for the university while pursuing his degree and has been its grants accounting manager since 2019. The university says it followed its normal hiring procedures, including a criminal background check and verification that Essel was eligible to work in the United States. The detention occurred off campus, and in accordance with university policy Essel has been placed on paid administrative leave while the university determines the status of his eligibility to work.

Source: The Standard, Missouri State University

University spokesperson Mark Danes said Missouri State has "done everything we can to cooperate with his attorneys" and has helped connect Essel's family with community resources. Because Essel is still in the federal system, Danes said, the university does not have an update on his situation. The university president's office has emailed student club leaders about the case, and students who have concerns are encouraged to contact the university's Counseling Center at 417-836-5116.

ICE's position: a removal order from 2015

ICE gave its position in an email to The Standard, the university's student newspaper: "He (Essel) received due process and was ordered removed by an immigration judge on Feb. 4, 2015. This administration will not ignore the rule of law. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal." Jonah Beadles, the Greene County Jail's public information officer, confirmed only that Essel was brought to the jail by ICE "on their own initiative."

Source: The Standard, Missouri State University

In the same email exchange reported by The Standard, ICE encouraged people in the country unlawfully to self-deport, pointing to a Department of Homeland Security offer of a $3,000 exit bonus and cost-free travel to their home country, with civil fines for failure to depart forgiven. Supporters of Essel say that framing ignores the two decades he has spent building a life, a career and a family in Springfield.

A 23-year immigration case, step by step

Federal records reported by KSMU and The Standard trace a long and contested legal history. Essel entered the United States legally from Ghana in 2003 on a student visa. In 2009 he obtained conditional permanent resident status through marriage to a U.S. citizen, and he applied for citizenship. Immigration officials denied that application: they determined that he was not living in a marital union with his citizen spouse and that he had made a false statement regarding the marriage to obtain an immigration benefit. Those are the government's findings; Essel's family and supporters tell the story differently, and the findings were contested through years of appeals. Immigration Services charged him with removability, an immigration judge found him removable — the removal order ICE cites is dated February 4, 2015 — and the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed his appeals in 2019 and 2021, according to the Eighth Circuit record summarised by The Standard.

A separate marriage petition, filed by his current wife in December 2016, was approved in June 2018 — but federal records indicate the government argued that by then Essel had failed to take the steps needed to adjust his status before a deadline passed. A petition challenging the removal order was made in 2022 and was ultimately denied in 2023, KSMU reported. Missouri court records show only minor traffic violations, in 2011 and 2021. A Change.org petition titled "Bring Paul Home" has gathered more than 2,500 signatures, and a GoFundMe for Essel's immigration attorney fees has raised over $14,000.

Why this case is being watched far beyond Springfield

For immigrant families across the United States — including Punjabi diaspora families who have relatives with status cases that have run for years — the Essel case raises the sharpest version of a question many are asking: what happens when a removal order issued more than a decade ago is enforced against a man who entered legally, worked for a public university for well over a decade, and later had a family petition approved? His supporters say the case shows how old orders can resurface without warning. ICE's answer is that a final order is a final order, and that it will not ignore the rule of law.

What happens next

ICE says Essel will remain in custody pending removal, and he has now been at the Greene County Jail for three weeks. His family and supporters are raising money for his legal fight, the university is still determining his work-eligibility status while he remains on paid administrative leave, and no public court date has been announced in the reporting so far. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as the case moves.