A local chef taken into custody last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been released and is headed back to Albany.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying he was overjoyed to hear that Capital City Rescue Mission chef Kinimo Ngoran was released from ICE custody in Batavia and will be returning home soon. A seven-lawyer pro bono team worked to secure Ngoran's release. His wife Lisa Pepper-Ngoran says the couple have been approved for a visa petition, which has been pending more than two years. Capital City Rescue Mission Pastor Perry Jones sponsored Ngoran, who is from the Ivory Coast, so that he could live and work in the U.S. in 2011.