Governor Asks ICE Head Not to Deport Minnesota Professor

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is asking immigration officials not to deport a professor at Augsburg College to Kenya.

Dayton sent a letter Wednesday to Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking him to allow Mzenga Wanyama to stay in the United States.

Dayton calls Wanyama ``a great asset to Minnesota'' and says deporting him would be ``a terrible loss to the hundreds of students he influences'' and also to his family and friends.

Wanyama moved to the U.S. from Kenya in 1992 on a student visa. He was denied asylum after his visa expired, but accepted a deal that required him to report to ICE on a regular basis.

Wanyama met with ICE Thursday. The agency has said it intends to carry out the court order.