Paulin Reviews a Bipartisan Effort to Secure the Release of Yeonsoo Go

How did Assemblywoman Amy Paulin work to secure the release of Yeonsoo Go, a 2024 Scarsdale High School graduate who was detained by ICE? Paulin was interviewed about her work by News 12 reporter Jonathan Gordon on August 11, 2025 and here is what she said:

Jonathan Gordon: Turning to a story that sparked outrage which stretched far beyond one small Westchester village, Yeonsoo Go, a Scarsdale High School graduate and student at Purdue University, was released from ICE custody after she was arrested moments after a hearing to extend her visa. The saga brought out support for her and her family as a bipartisan group of lawmakers pushed to secure - and eventually did secure - her release. Among them was State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, whose district includes Scarsdale. Assemblywoman Paulin joins us to talk more about the situation and the broader issue of immigration enforcement in our communities. Assemblywoman, thank you so much for being here. Can you talk to us about what happened?

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin: Yeonsoo went to immigration court for what she believed was a routine court appearance to extend her visa beyond December 2025, as it was valid through that time, and to address her green card application which she had applied for in July. On Thursday, July 31, after the court appearance, she was essentially arrested and detained at 26 Federal Plaza. Then on Saturday morning, we now know from her, she was taken to the airport by bus at about 10:15 a.m. and flown to Louisiana. Yesterday, (Monday, August 4), she returned to New York and then was released around 6:00 p.m. when her mother got there.

Jonathan Gordon: Let’s pull back the curtain a little bit. Behind the scenes you were working with federal partners on both sides of the aisle to get her home, maybe not part of the traditional legislative job. What can you tell us about what was actually going on there?

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin: Well, there’s nothing that isn’t part of my job, just so you know. The mother of one of Yeonsoo’s dear friends who knew two of my staff members very well (they live in the same neighborhood) had reached out to them and they in turn reached out to me to see what we could do. I immediately contacted Chuck Schumer’s office, Kristin Gillibrand’s office, George Latimer’s office, and Mike Lawler’s office. When I knew she was Korean, I reached out to Grace Meng’s office. That was between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Chuck Schumer’s office had already been contacted by her church. George Latimer’s office had already been contacted by the family, just like I was, but the others had not been.

They then coordinated together, Democrats working together under Chuck Schumer’s leadership and Mike Lawler on the Republican side, to contact the agencies involved to try to free her and to explain that her visa was intact and to find out exactly what was happening. Mike Lawler, being in the majority, of course had best access to the information and was able to infiltrate, figure out, and ultimately work with DHS most directly.
Clearly on the democratic side, the energy was palpable. There was a lot of collaborative work being done to free Yeonsoo and luckily we had someone on the majority side who was equally a part of it.

I also reached out to another community member who I know is good friends with the president. It’s not a call I could make but it’s a contact they have and a call they could make to the executive branch. Things all started coming together. Sometimes in politics and in all issues if there’s a collective voice it’s paid more attention to. We worked very hard and are very proud that the community came together in this very bipartisan, collective way to address what we believe was an injustice and an unfairness in this case.

Jonathan Gordon: Looking at the bigger picture about immigration enforcement overall, what does this say about the current situation of how the federal government is handling this?

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin: Well, it’s clear to me something changed. Yeonsoo’s mom is a pastor and went from one responsibility to another within the same church, so essentially she changed jobs. That was the excuse given for the change in visa. That job change however was two years ago, and there had been several court appearances since that time, yet Yeonsoo and her mom were never detained until now.

Now if there’s any discrepancy or even if it’s an inadvertent mistake that is easily rectified, there’s an immediate jump to detainment. That’s a shift and a change – and one that is very unfair because not everyone is going to have a close-knit community who is going to rally around one person, or who will have important contacts and funders connected to very high up sources. We were very lucky in that way in this case. There are, as you say, many cases out there where people are not going have those resources to prevent deportation.

Jonathan Gordon: Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, thank you so much for joining the show.