An Afghan wartime translator granted a US immigration visa after risking his life to help US troops has been detained by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents, in the latest sign that the Trump administration is willing to flout legal agreements and promises to allies in pursuit of its unprecedented immigration crackdown.
Identified only as Zia S, the 35-year-old husband and father of five who entered the US in October 2024 with a visa issued by American authorities was arrested and taken away in a van last week after a routine biometrics appointment for his green card in East Hartford, Connecticut, according to his attorney, members of Congress and human-rights advocates.
A judge has issued a temporary stay preventing Zia’s removal from the US, but he remains in detention at a facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The former wartime interpreter fled Afghanistan with his family after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Zia legally entered the US in October 2024 through New York’s JFK airport with humanitarian parole – and an approved special immigrant visa (SIV). This visa is a pathway to permanent residency, or a green card, for certain foreign nationals who have worked for the US government or military in specific capacities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“What happened to him is the worst kind of abhorrent violation of basic decency,” said the Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on Tuesday. “He actually worked and risked his life in Afghanistan to uphold the values and rights that are central to democracy.”
Zia is the third known Afghan ally who helped US troops to have been seized by Ice since Trump returned to power, amid growing outrage at the administration’s actions.
Jahana Hayes, a Democratic member of Congress for Connecticut, said she had been contacted by Zia’s family because they didn’t know where Ice had taken him. “Our credibility is at stake. We have families who have risked everything not just for themselves, but for their entire family … in the name of standing up for the promises of our American democracy,” Hayes said.
In a statement to Reuters, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the Afghan national entered the US on 8 October 2024, and is under investigation for a “serious criminal allegation”, adding: “All of his claims will be heard by a judge. Any Afghan who fears persecution is able to request relief.”
Zia’s attorney Lauren Petersen said she had no idea what the DHS was referring to.
“Zia has done everything right. He’s followed the rules. He has no criminal history,” said Petersen, adding that he was approved for humanitarian parole due to a direct threat from Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. “If he is deported … he faces death.”
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More than 70,000 Afghans were granted permission to enter the US under Joe Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome” initiative, which followed the bungled US exit and subsequent Taliban takeover in 2021.
Some, like Zia, have a SIV and pathway to permanent residency, while about 12,000 or so have temporary protected status (TPS) – a type of work visa granted to people already in the US who cannot return to their home countries due to armed conflicts, natural disasters or other extraordinary events.
The Trump administration is seeking to terminate TPS status for multiple countries including Venezuela, Haiti and Afghanistan – despite ongoing unstable and dangerous conditions in those countries.
