The pregnant wife and four children of Kasper Eriksen have been living out of an RV since he was arrested at his citizenship interview, the Danish network TV2 reported Wednesday.
Eriksen, 32, is his family’s breadwinner and was building them a home “with his bare hands” when he was detained on April 15 after he reportedly failed to file the immigration document “Form I-751” by a 2015 deadline.
The Danish national, who has worked as a welder since moving to Mississippi permanently in 2013, was denied bail by a judge during his first court appearance on Tuesday morning.
Eriksen’s wife, Savannah, said she was relieved that the judge did not order Eriksen deported at the hearing. Still, the timing of his prolonged detention, now a month and a half and counting, appears to have exacerbated the family’s living situation.
“As a homeschooling mother, we are completely dependent on Kasper’s income,” Savannah said in a statement last week. “Legal fees are mounting, as are living expenses, with our sole provider being detained for over a month now.”
Savannah has shared family photos with The Daily Beast but has not responded to requests for an interview. TV2 traveled to Eriksen’s hearing in rural Louisiana on Tuesday and briefly spoke with him before officials ordered them to stop.
“I don’t know much,” the Dane conceded ahead of his hearing.
The network reported that officials at the ICE facility did not permit its journalists to speak with Eriksen after his hearing, despite him signaling that he would be willing to speak.
Eriksen sought parole on humanitarian grounds, according to TV2. Savannah wrote in an update on the family’s GoFundMe that Eriksen and his lawyers asked a judge to reopen his immigration case and to grant him bond.
“This hearing also could have issued his immediate deportation, so we are thankful for the opportunity for his case to be heard, reopened, and all the evidence be presented to the judge,” she wrote in an update after the hearing.
The Eriksens live in the rural Mississippi town of Sturgis, which has a population of just over 200. They share four children, and Savannah says they have another due in August. She has said her pregnancy is considered “high-risk.”
ICE has not responded to requests for comment on Eriksen’s case.
Savannah said Eriksen had a green card and is seeking U.S. citizenship. His case has garnered national attention in part because his public social media accounts show he frequently reshared posts from President Donald Trump and other right-wing figures. He also made posts that suggested he opposed vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is unclear how far off Eriksen was from completing construction on his family home, but Savannah has said the family has a ranch and that she homeschools their young children. She had raised $57,526 as of Wednesday morning through a GoFundMe campaign.
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