An Afghan national who served as a translator for the U.S. military and entered the U.S. legally was arrested during his immigration hearing in San Diego and is now being detained.
On June 12, Sayed Naser, whose full name is being withheld because of safety reasons, was at a courthouse in San Diego for a routine immigration hearing and was detained by ICE agents wearing neck gaiters over their faces, according to video of the incident.
“I came here to make a better life,” Naser said in the video clip. “I worked with the U.S. military. I worked in a very dangerous part of Afghanistan with the U.S. military.”
Naser worked as a translator and logistics contractor for the U.S. forces at military bases in Afghanistan, according to a press release from AfghanEvac, a nonprofit created to support the safe relocation of Afghan allies. Naser’s brother was killed by the Taliban in September 2023 during a wedding, forcing him and his family to go into hiding in Iran.
A representative for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not immediately be reached for comment on this case.
He got a humanitarian visa to Brazil and entered the U.S. legally in July 2024 through Mexico, according to the release. He was granted humanitarian parole, applied for a Special Immigrant Visa and was in the process of scheduling an asylum hearing when he was arrested by ICE.
Naser has no criminal record, has an active asylum case and has another brother who was granted asylum weeks before Naser was detained, according to the release.
During the hearing, the U.S. government tried to dismiss his asylum case, saying that Naser’s notice to appear was “improvidently issued” without giving any other explanation, according to the release. The judge didn’t dismiss the case and gave Naser and his attorney time to respond to the motion.
“We were one hearing away from having his asylum hearing and we’re dismayed that we’re so close to him being granted asylum and this administration just has this 3,000-a-day policy and is blindly grabbing what looks like low hanging fruit,” said Naser’s attorney, Brian McGoldrick.
McGoldrick was referring to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller who said last month that ICE should arrest at least 3,000 undocumented migrants a day. As of early June, around 51,000 undocumented migrants were in ICE custody, the highest number since September 2019.
Naser is being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, McGoldrick said. He said Naser is dismayed about being arrested and is also concerned because he hasn’t been able to contact his family, who is still in hiding in Iran during an internet blackout.
McGoldrick said that Naser thought he would have gotten better treatment after he helped out with the U.S. forces in the Middle East.
“Now they want to short circuit the whole process,” McGoldrick added.
