Singaporean teen blogger Amos Yee, who was jailed twice in his home country for his social media postings, has been released from U.S. custody after his bid for asylum was upheld by an immigration appeals court, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Yee also confirmed by phone with Kyodo News that he was released from Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Illinois, on Tuesday afternoon local time. He had been locked up in several detention centers since his arrival in Chicago last December, while U.S. authorities considered his request for political asylum.
The Board of Immigration Appeals has "dismissed the Department of Homeland Security's appeal opposing asylum in the case of Amos Yee," his lawyer, Sandra Grossman, said in a statement.