San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee detained by immigration agents at LAX Airport, team confirms [View all]

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: January 21, 2026 / 8:56 PM PST


San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday. Lee, 27, who was born in Japan but is of South Korean descent, was detained for "forgetting documents in Korea," the office of former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi confirmed.

"Our office is actively working with the Giants organization, our Congressional partners and federal liaisons to resolve this situation and secure Mr. Lee's release expeditiously," a statement from Pelosi's office said. CBS LA has reached out to CBP and the Department of Homeland Security for a statement on the matter, but has not yet heard back.

A spokesperson for the Giants said that Lee has since been released from detainment after he experienced a "brief travel issue at LAX due to a paperwork issue." "The matter was quickly clarified with the appropriate authorities, and he has since been cleared to continue his travel," the team's spokesperson said. "We appreciate the professionalism of all parties involved."

Lee signed with the Giants ahead of the 2024 Major League Baseball season. His six-year, $113 million deal, the most ever for a Korean-born position player, ended his seven-year tenure in the KBO League, South Korea's premier baseball organization.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/jung-hoo-lee-san-francisco-giants-detained-immigration-agents-lax/

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This is a heads-up to ALL of the sports franchises. A significant number of players are not citizens or are in the process or may be naturalized, and they will be easy pickings for the ICE goons. A large number are also multimillionaires and MLB players are probably the most vulnerable with respect to racial profiling which is "legal" now thanks to the SCOTUS idiocy (not just those who are Asian like this case, but the Dominicans and Cubans and others from Latin America).

But the owners backed 45 and his face-eating leopard party, so...