A Michigan man and immigrant father of three made what he defines as the most difficult decision of his life: leaving his family behind in the United States and returning to Kenya, not because he wanted to, but because he felt he had no other safe option.

Detroit

Samuel Kangete, a Michigan man and father of three, has left the United States and returned to Kenya, citing fears of deportation amid intensified immigration enforcement. Kangete, who originally arrived in the U.S. on a student visa in 2009, built a life in Michigan, earning multiple degrees, marrying, and raising a family.

His immigration status came under scrutiny after officials accused his first marriage, which granted him conditional residency, of being fraudulent—a case that remains unresolved. Facing uncertainty and the threat of arrest, Kangete chose to self-deport for his safety. His wife, Latavia, expressed concerns about the emotional and financial impact on their family, while Kangete hopes for a legal path to return and reunite with his children.

Father of three self-deports, leaving family behind

It was a painful goodbye between Michigan man Samuel Kangete and his three children Sunday. Leaving his family behind in the United States, he took a one-way trip back to Kenya, a country he hasn't called home in well over a decade. Kangete is among tens of thousands who have now self-deported from the U.S. It comes in the wake of increasingly volatile immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE raids throughout the country, which have resulted in thousands of arrests since President Donald Trump's orders to crack down on undocumented migrants. 39-year-old Kangete first came to Michigan in 2009 on a student visa. Since then, he has earned five academic degrees, bought a house, got married, and is now the father of three children ages 13, 11, and 5. And up until May 2025, he worked as an accountant for the Michigan Department of Transportation. His immigration case stems from the first marriage that granted him conditional U.S. residency. In 2014, immigration officials accused that first marriage of being fraudulent, which a judge has yet to rule on. But Kangete believes it leaves him vulnerable to deportation. You know, you open, you know, we go on news, social media, whatever, you see all these news of people like just getting rounded up and being taken to like, you know, El Salvador or just being even detained and all that kind of stuff. If I'm self-deporting myself to Kenya, it's for safety purposes because I want to be safe. I want to be in a place like, even if I know I'm not here physically with them, I'm in a place that they know where I am, how to get a hold of me. Daddy, I miss you so much. Kangete's wife, Latavia, says raising their children alone will be hard on her financially, but the toughest part may be the emotional toll. I think we're going to have to do lots of family therapy. You know, a lot of kids are resilient, but I don't think that they cope overnight. Nobody copes with things like this. This is surreal, dude. This is like, I don't know. Now back in Kenya, Kangete is surrounded by family, his sister and brother-in-law, who he grew up with before he moved to the United States. But he says he still hopes and prays for a way to legally return to the U.S. someday to reunite with his wife and children. If I was to talk to President Trump personally, I would tell President Trump, like, hey, I seriously, seriously, even if I have to plead with you, like, please hear the cries of these kids. Please have mercy on people like me.

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