Owen Ramsingh, who lives in Columbia and has been a green card holder since 1986, is scheduled to have a hearing before a federal judge in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday morning.

His friends and family in Columbia say they plan to watch the hearing remotely after Ramsingh told them it would be too painful to see them if he couldn’t come home.

“No matter what, he will not go home Thursday,” said Samantha Gage , a friend and supporter. “Even if we get good news, even if we get the result we want, he has to spend 30 days in detention so ICE can respond.”

Ramsingh has been held in El Paso for a month after he was detained at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sept. 27. He was returning home from a trip to see family in the Netherlands.

The Department of Homeland Security has cited con

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