Update, Sept. 25: Newly obtained South Dakota court records conflict with ICE’s description of Samudzi’s criminal history. The relevant section below has been updated.
Update, Sept. 25: After publication, Samudzi’s legal team responded to questions from Intellectual Dissatisfaction, clarifying his 2006 immigration order, the government’s third-country removal argument and his criminal history. Those details have been added below, and relevant sections now reflect these comments.
A judge temporarily halted the removal of longtime South Dakota resident Nate Samudzi on Thursday, stopping immigration authorities from transferring him out of Minnesota while a federal court considers his case.
Samudzi, 30, was born in Zimbabwe but has lived in the United States since he was four years old. He grew up in Vermillion and now lives in Yankton with his wife, Sydney, and their one year old daughter. He works as a UPS package delivery driver.
ICE told KTIV that Samudzi has been subject to a “final order of removal since 2006” and said he has a conviction for “drug possession and distribution.” ICE also confirmed that his federal habeas case is pending and said the agency would comply with applicable court orders.
At the same time, Samudzi’s immigration attorney, Heidi Oligmueller, told KELOLAND that an immigration judge granted Samudzi withholding of removal in 2006.
His attorney told KELOLAND that ICE intended to remove Samudzi to Burundi, despite Samudzi having no ties to the East African nation.
Samudzi’s legal team has since clarified that both descriptions are accurate: he has a final order of removal, but an immigration judge granted him withholding of removal in 2006, preventing the government from removing him to Zimbabwe, his country of citizenship and birth.
His attorneys said no third country was designated for removal at the time. They say the federal government now argues that the withholding order prevents removal to Zimbabwe but does not prohibit removing Samudzi to another country.
Court intervenes as removal approaches
Samudzi’s attorneys filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in federal court Sept. 23 in Samudzi v. Mullin, Case No. 0:26-cv-04115, in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota.
At 8:02 a.m. Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jerry W. Blackwell ordered federal officials not to remove, transfer or facilitate Samudzi’s removal from the District of Minnesota while the case remains pending. Blackwell further ordered that if Samudzi had already been removed from the district, the government was required to return him.
The case remains active, and the court said a briefing schedule would follow. As of Friday morning, Intellectual Dissatisfaction found no newer public docket order resolving the underlying habeas petition. The feds must respond to the petition by September 28. The petitioners must then respond by September 30.
Samudzi’s family told KTIV that he had been scheduled for a 9 a.m. removal flight from Minneapolis Thursday morning.
The legal dispute is unfolding against a rapidly changing landscape surrounding so-called third-country removals.
On Sept. 18, the First Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld a federal ruling requiring DHS to provide people covered by the case with effective notice of a proposed third-country destination and a meaningful opportunity to raise a fear of persecution or torture before being removed there.
Samudzi’s legal team told Intellectual Dissatisfaction that it believes he falls within the D.V.D. class and is entitled to the protections at issue in that litigation, including an opportunity to raise his fear of being sent to a third country.
His attorneys also confirmed that Samudzi repeatedly expressed fear of removal and requested a reasonable fear interview. They said he was scheduled for a removal flight within hours of being detained, and they do not believe such an interview was going to occur before that flight.
Court records contradict ICE’s description of criminal history
ICE told KTIV that Samudzi “has a conviction for drug possession and distribution.”
Since publication, Intellectual Dissatisfaction has obtained a statewide South Dakota Unified Judicial System criminal-record search and underlying Clay County court documents that do not support that characterization.
The records show Samudzi pleaded guilty on Oct. 25, 2016, to misdemeanor ingestion under SDCL 22-42-15. A separate felony case charging distribution or possession with intent to distribute marijuana was dismissed on the prosecutor’s motion, with no plea entered and no conviction resulting from that case.
The statewide South Dakota court search does not list a separate conviction for drug possession or distribution.
An additional 2016 Clay County probable-cause affidavit obtained by Intellectual Dissatisfaction states that Samudzi’s ingestion charge stemmed from marijuana use during a traffic stop. According to the affidavit, an officer smelled marijuana and Samudzi acknowledged having used it before being arrested for ingestion.
Samudzi’s attorney had previously told Intellectual Dissatisfaction that his conviction was for ingestion and that the distribution indictment had been dismissed. The newly obtained court records corroborate that account as it relates to his South Dakota criminal record.
Intellectual Dissatisfaction has asked ICE to explain the basis for its statement and whether the agency stands by or intends to correct its characterization.
Following a previous ICE detention in February, Samudzi was released after six days. His wife told KTIV that he was subsequently placed under extensive supervision, including GPS phone monitoring, weekly photo check-ins, unannounced home visits, restrictions on leaving South Dakota and in-person reporting in Sioux Falls every eight weeks. She said he complied with those requirements.
The family says Samudzi went to the Sioux Falls immigration office this week after being contacted about a “change in program” and was taken into custody there.
‘Part of the town, part of the community’
For people who knew Samudzi long before his immigration case became public, his roots in South Dakota stretch back decades.
Lucas Iverson grew up with Samudzi in Vermillion.
“Nate always stood by my side, no matter what I had going on,” Lucas told Intellectual Dissatisfaction.
His mother, Monica Iverson, co-owner of Café Brulé in Vermillion, employed Samudzi for several years while he was growing up.
“He was a fantastic employee. He always showed up on time and never called in, even as a high schooler,” Iverson said.
She remembers Samudzi eventually becoming a chef and said she tried helping him find a path toward college, but his immigration status complicated his ability to secure financing.
To Iverson, however, Samudzi was never an outsider to the community.
“He came to the pool with us, the kids played together, and he went to all the sports functions,” she said. “He was part of the group, part of the town, part of the community.”
That relationship continued into adulthood.
“I made their wedding cake,” Iverson said. “I made the cake for their daughter’s first birthday.”
Samudzi eventually settled in Yankton and became a familiar face through his UPS route. Iverson said employees at a local Ace Hardware recently began asking about him after noticing he was no longer making deliveries.
“He’s just done so much for other people,” Iverson said. “He’d give you the shirt off his back.”
For now, the federal order keeps Samudzi in Minnesota while the court considers his case.
This is a developing story and will be updated as additional court filings and responses become available.
