Detained under Trump’s immigration policies, Danish immigrant blames Biden—and still supports Trump

It was President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration enforcement policies that put Danish national Kasper Eriksen in detention. But from behind bars in Louisiana, the MAGA-supporting Eriksen lays blame elsewhere. The Mississippi resident doesn’t even blame himself for forgetting to file a simple immigration form – according to him, back in 2015 -- that led to his arrest.

“The reason I’m sitting here is more or less a product of the Biden administration,” Eriksen said during a phone interview from his Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center with the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet on June 12, 2025. “They were the ones who let me go through this process without saying there was a problem. They didn’t keep an eye on it.”

Ekstra Bladet characterized the interview as an exclusive in which Eriksen tells his story for the first time.

Though Eriksen and his wife blame former President Joe Biden, his detention is the result of immigration policies undertaken by the Trump administration. ICE agents detained Eriksen in April 2025 during what was expected to be his final immigration appointment in Memphis, Tennessee. Instead of leaving the interview approved to become a U.S. citizen, Eriksen left in handcuffs.

Eriksen legally immigrated to the United States from Denmark more than a decade ago, built a quiet rural life in Mississippi, and married a U.S. citizen. He and his pregnant wife, Savannah Eriksen, have four children. Although he has no criminal record, his detention has lasted more than 10 weeks—and counting. He was denied bail during an immigration hearing May 27.

Despite their predicament, the Eriksens remain dedicated supporters of Trump and his immigration policies. Their social media posts show a strong endorsement of Trump and sharp criticism of Biden. They describe themselves as patriotic conservatives, gun owners and churchgoers in their interview with the Danish newspaper.

“Yes, we supported Trump’s immigration policies—and we still do,” Savannah Eriksen told Ekstra Bladet. “But we had no idea they would hit us this hard.”

She argues that most detainees deserve their fate, distinguishing sharply between them and her husband.

“Ninety percent of those who are trapped now do not deserve to be in the country. They don’t speak English, they came here illegally, they have criminal backgrounds,” she said. “Then there are 10 percent who have documentation and are caught in the system.”

Kasper Eriksen echoed his wife’s sentiments, emphasizing his integration into American culture.

“I am still a patriot,” he said. “If you come to the U.S., you live and sound and behave like an American. That’s how I’ve lived my whole life here.”

Yet the Eriksens’ plight illustrates a broader issue: the dramatic rise in immigration detentions under renewed Trump-era enforcement measures, including of people who followed the letter of the law, and often without the benefit of the constitutional right to due process. Among them is another Mississippi man, Kerlin Moreno-Orellana, who was arrested in Jackson on June 19 and is being held in the same ICE detention center as Eriksen in Jena, Louisiana. Moreno-Orellana, a native of Honduras, has lived with his family in Jackson for 16 years, according to his wife.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, ICE detention has nearly tripled, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University database that tracks federal government staffing, spending and enforcement. By June 2025, more than 71 percent of those in ICE detention had no criminal record. Many more only have minor offenses, including traffic violations, TRAC noted.

The surge in detentions has led to overcrowded facilities, due process complaints and allegations of widespread mismanagement. On paper, ICE facilities throughout the country can accommodate 41,500 people but they currently hold more than 56,000.

Kasper Eriksen acknowledged to the Mississippi Free Press in a May interview that he might have triggered his current troubles by forgetting to file an immigration form in 2015, when President Barack Obama was still in office. A removal order issued in 2019 during Trump’s first term—of which Eriksen claims he was unaware—ultimately led to his current detention.

Though the Eriksens blame Biden for their immigration woes, Kasper Eriksen said during the Mississippi Free Press interview that the immigration official present during his arrest in April told him he would likely not have been arrested under the previous administration.

“He told us that had it been a couple of months earlier, during the previous administration, the situation probably would have been different,” Eriksen said.

His naturalization process had appeared to be going smoothly under Biden. A September 2024 message from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed that all documentation was complete, setting the stage for his final interview.

It is unclear how Eriksen’s citizenship application was able to move forward while he had an order for removal on his record. The I-751 form, which he reportedly neglected to complete back in 2015, should be filed 90 days before the expiration date of the two-year green card. Failure to do so can result in complications and, ultimately, deportation. However, USCIS does allow for late applications if there is a good reason or extenuating circumstances. Savannah Eriksen reportedly suffered a stillbirth during that time.

“Kasper is trapped in a broken system,” Savannah Eriksen told Ekstra Bladet. “But we still support the president and the things he does. Just not everything.”

Kasper Eriksen told Ekstra Bladet that he shares a cell with about 100 other men at the ICE facility.

“It’s a bit of a twilight zone,” he said. “What’s most frustrating is that this whole deportation system is Latin American-oriented. The food, the signs, the language -- everything is in Spanish, so it’s a bit like being in another country. I’ve been lucky to have a couple of guys from Jamaica in here, but I’m pretty much the only English speaker in my cell.” As they await the outcome, the Eriksens have raised more than $62,500 through a GoFundMe to pay for legal expenses.

A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed that the immigration missteps leading to Eriksen’s final removal order occurred during Trump’s first term.

“Kasper Eriksen, a Danish national, is in our country illegally,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek on May 21. “He failed to show up for his immigration hearing on April 2, 2019. He has a final order of removal from an immigration judge. This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”

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Image: Ekstra Bladet reporter (left) speaks with Savannah Eriksen in Sturgis, Mississippi (screencap of Ekstra Bladet video)