An Afghan asylum seeker who traveled to the United States last year after receiving threats from the Taliban has been detained by U.S. immigration authorities and now faces possible deportation to Afghanistan.
ABC News reported on Monday night, 8 December, quoting the asylum seeker’s attorney, that the arrest occurred amid heightened security pressure on Afghan migrants following the recent shooting incident in Washington.
According to attorney Elora Mukherjee, her client was detained last Wednesday while attending an appointment at an immigration office in New York.
She emphasized that the asylum seeker has no criminal record and has appeared at all of his immigration hearings.
Court documents show that the man fled Afghanistan after the Taliban threatened to kill him.
His arrest comes after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered all Afghan immigration cases to be suspended following a shooting earlier this month in Washington.
In that incident, a member of the National Guard was killed, and another was wounded. The accused gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan refugee and former employee of U.S.-affiliated institutions, has denied the charges.
