The small community of Kennett, three hours south of St. Louis, is rallying around a Chinese woman who faces deportation to Hong Kong.
A fundraiser put on by her employer at John’s Waffle and Pancake House raised nearly $20,000 to support Carol Mayorga’s legal costs and three young children.
“She’s a wonderful person, a tireless worker, a devoted mother. Someone who gives without asking, who puts others first, and who meets each challenge with quiet strength and grace,” wrote Liridona Ramadani, owner of John’s Waffle and Pancake House on Facebook. “She may be an immigrant, but she is, without a doubt, one of our own. And today, we’ve come together—not divided by differences, but united by love, respect, and the shared understanding that when one of us is in need, we all step up.”
The Delta Dunklin Democrat reports that Mayorga, also known as Ming Li Hui, reported to ICE for what she assumed would be routine visa business. Instead, officers took her into custody and held her at Phelps County Jail.
Mayorga arrived in the United States in 2002 and made Kenneth her home.
“She’s a part of our community,” said Leah Mobley, a concerned citizen. “A very supportive, uplifting kind of person contributing to society.”
According to St. Louis Public Radio, she has a work visa that had been set to expire in 2026.
When she arrived for her check in, she sat in the office for an unexplained long period of time.
“I started to worry — I was over there so long,” Mayorga said during a jail interview with StlPR. “I asked one officer, ‘Can I go now?’ because it was so late, and he said, ‘No, no, no. You will stay here.’”
After seven hours of waiting, she was shackled and detained. ICE officials have not responded to the media about Mayorga’s status. The citizens of Kennett are stunned.
“Ninety-five percent of the people in here support Trump — I do, too — but this is wrong,” said Bud Garrison, a daily customer at John’s to StLPR.
“It is not an aberration,” said Kennett Ward 1 City Councilor Lisa Dry to the Delta Dunklin Democrat. “It is a serious situation. And if it could happen to Carol, it could happen to anyone. Because in my mind, she is a model member of our community.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are currently funded by our readers and such charitable foundations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, Report for America/GroundTruth Project & Koo and Patricia Yuen of the Yuen Foundation.’
Find additional content on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram , Tiktok, X, and YouTube. Please consider interning, joining our staff, or submitting a story, or making a tax-deductible donation.
You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed. Contact us at info @ asamnews dot com for more info.
When will this insanity stop?! So happy to see community rally support for victims. Thank you for the inspiration. A little light in the dark!
you people write one sided news. and that is why you get disappointed. was she here legally and all of a sudden was detained? you think everyone has automatic right because it’s America? does the USA constitution allow legal residents without cause to be arrested? is so then she will have the courts to free her in no time at all. has she previously violated immigration law?
I suggest you read the story before you comment. She was here on an authorized work Visa and is beloved in her community.