A longtime Ghanaian employee of Missouri State University has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), bringing renewed attention to a years-long immigration case involving the university administrator.
Paul Jack Cobby Essel, who serves as Missouri State University’s grants accounting manager, was detained in Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. Records cited by local media show he was subsequently held at the Greene County Jail as an ICE detainee.
Essel, a native and citizen of Ghana, has longstanding ties to Missouri State. The university said he enrolled as a graduate student in 2008 and earned two graduate degrees between 2008 and 2014. He began working for MSU while pursuing his education and later continued his career at the institution. He has served as grants accounting manager since 2019.
In a statement following his detention, university officials described Essel as a “valued, long-standing member” of the MSU community and confirmed that he had remained an employee in good standing.
MSU also said it followed its normal hiring procedures and federal requirements, including a criminal background check and verification that Essel was eligible to work in the United States. He has been placed on paid administrative leave while university officials seek additional information about the situation.
Long-Running Immigration Case Resurfaces
Federal court records show Essel originally entered the United States legally on a student visa in 2003. He later obtained conditional permanent resident status through marriage to a U.S. citizen.
His immigration journey subsequently became complicated. An immigration judge ordered him removed in 2015 after finding that his earlier marriage was not bona fide for immigration purposes. The Board of Immigration Appeals upheld that determination, and in December 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied Essel’s petition challenging the refusal to reopen his case.
Missouri State said it had not received official communication from law enforcement concerning Essel’s detention when it issued its statement.
For a Ghanaian who spent years studying and building a professional career at the university, the sudden ICE detention has placed his immigration battle back in the public spotlight.
