Ho Yin Mo, the San Francisco assembly staffer whose detention by federal immigration authorities prompted appeals from Mayor Daniel Lurie and local elected officials, has been released from custody after spending more than two weeks in a Nevada immigration detention center.
Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, announced Friday evening that Mo had been released.
“Our hearts are full,” Stefani wrote in a social media post. “Mo’s release confirms what we knew all along: He is a lawful public servant and a cherished part of our Bay Area family, and he should have never been detained.”
Stefani said Mo will continue to face legal expenses as his immigration case proceeds and directed supporters to a GoFundMe established to help pay for his legal defense.
Mo was detained Sept. 17 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while traveling through Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. He was subsequently held at an immigration detention facility in Pahrump, Nevada, according to immigration records.
Last week, Lurie sent a letter to the Executive Office for Immigration Review urging immigration authorities to release Mo, describing him as a longtime Bay Area resident, a public servant and someone who posed no danger to the community. All 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also submitted a letter supporting his release.
Mo, who emigrated from Hong Kong, works as a field representative in Stefani’s San Francisco district office. Before joining the Legislature in 2025, he worked as an on-air reporter for Chinese-language television station KTSF and later on for former Mayor London Breed’s reelection campaign.
Federal officials previously said Mo legally entered the United States in 2020 but later overstayed his visa. The Department of Homeland Security said he was arrested during a targeted immigration enforcement operation and maintained that employment authorization or a pending immigration application does not, by itself, confer lawful immigration status.
Stefani has consistently maintained that Mo is legally employed by the California State Legislature and has praised his work helping San Francisco residents access state services, including health care, child care and disability benefits.
As of Friday evening, neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security had publicly announced the circumstances of Mo’s release.
It was not immediately clear whether an immigration judge ordered his release or whether federal officials acted through another legal process.
Mo’s immigration case remains pending.
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This article originally published at ICE releases San Francisco lawmaker’s staffer after weeks in detention.