Sri Lankan man arrested by ICE no longer a Ferris State University associate professor, officials say
A Ferris State University associate professor who was placed on administrative leave is no longer employed by the university, a school official has confirmed.
This step comes after Sumith Gunasekera, an associate professor of marketing at the school in Big Rapids, Michigan, was arrested on Nov. 12 in Detroit by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ICE officials say Gunasekera is an undocumented immigrant from Sri Lanka. Authorities claim he is a sex offender.
A few days after the arrest, Ferris State said it placed Gunasekera on administrative leave. That status has since changed.
"Professor Gunasekera is no longer with Ferris State University. It would be inappropriate to discuss a personnel issue," Dave Murray, Ferris State associate vice president for marketing and communications, said on Wednesday.
According to ICE, Gunasekera first arrived in the U.S. in February 1998. He then left for Canada and returned to the U.S. on a student visa, the agency claimed.
"Over the years Gunasekera repeatedly attempted to manipulate our immigration system between applications, denials, and appeals despite the convictions in Canada that made him ineligible for legal status in the United States," the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release about his arrest.
One of those convictions, ICE officials say, happened in November 1998 when Gunasekera was convicted in Ontario, Canada, of sexual interference with a minor and uttering a threat to cause death or great bodily harm. He was sentenced to a month in jail and one year of probation.
He was also convicted in January 2004 of disorderly conduct after an incident in Las Vegas, Nevada.