Sam Kangethe sat on a plastic container in his 5-year-old daughter Ella’s room — a giant in a kingdom of toppled toys.

His flight to Kenya was leaving soon, he gently her. He was going somewhere safe, and she could reach him anytime. And one day, he promised, she’d come too, and together they’d watch pink flamingoes under the African sky.

Her soft sobs erupted into cries that filled the room. “I love you. You’re my bestie,” he whispered as he pulled her close, in a moment captured on video.

It was August, just before the start of the school year, and Kangethe was returning to the country he’d left 16 years before to attend college in Michigan.

He wasn’t just going on a vacation or to visit relatives. As an immigrant living in the US without permanent residency, he was self-deporting to

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