A Boulder County man is back home after a federal judge ruled he was “illegally detained” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mohammad Ali Dadfar, who goes by Ali, sought asylum in Louisville. That’s where he has been living, with temporary legal status, over the last year while working as a truck driver.
But in October, ICE arrested him, beginning a months-long wait for his day in court.
Mohammad Ali Dadfar
CBS
In Afghanistan, Ali says he helped the United States fight terrorism. Last year, he brought his family here for what he says was in search of safety.
“The Taliban came in, and it was very dangerous for my family and me. I made a decision to have a good life and a safe life to come to the United States,” Ali said.
Under a temporary legal status, they moved to Louisville, joined a church, and Ali began working as a truck driver. He was working when he stopped at a weigh station near Chicago in October and saw ICE officials.
An interpreter helped translate our interview. Through this interpreter, Ali said, “I thinking, [ICE] is going to be inspecting my truck, but they didn’t inspect my truck, and they just take me off from my truck, and they just arrested me.”
He says ICE officials refused to look at his legal documentation and took his belongings, including his phone and truck license, before sending him to an ICE facility in Chicago.
“I was not comfortable there, and I was just thinking about my family and what’s going to happen in the future with them. And I was thinking they’re going to deport me, and this was a big concern for me,” Ali said.
Ali says that, in the facility, there were more than 50 people to a room, and he says it was two days before he could contact his family or an attorney.
“It was a very bad place. There was no space for sleeping. A lot of people were sitting on the couches or sofas, but it was not enough for everybody, and some of the people they just standing over there,” he said.
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Ali explained that many people were sitting shoulder to shoulder with no room to lie down.
After a few days, he says he was transferred to a jail in Missouri, and each day Ali remained in custody, his family not only missed him but also went without his main source of income. That’s when their community stepped in.
Marissa Seuc-Hester is a leader at their congregation, Christ the Servant Lutheran Church. She says the community worked on trying to help Ali every day.
“There was no question. This is already– this is our family,” she said.
Together, she says, they collected thousands of dollars to help pay legal fees and support his family, even paying rent and helping coordinate aid from Boulder County programs.
“Members of our church are immediately trying to donate to our fund. We had friends of friends, lots of people sharing just with their networks, the people who know them in our community, reaching out, asking how to help,” Seuc-Hesteris said.
But soon days in custody soon turned to weeks, and Seuc-Hesteris said, “I think we were all feeling pretty despairing, trying to keep up hope.”
But on Monday, their prayers were answered when a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release Ali immediately. The order says ICE went against its own process and violated Ali’s rights.
Ali said, “I really appreciate the help and support of the judge for releasing me, and I’m just thinking about for my family.”
Ali says he still does not have his phone or truck license, which he says officers took after his arrest. Now, he’s waiting for his next court date for a more permanent asylum status.
“When I got out from the jail, one of the officers told me, you have the asylum process. I say, yes, I have asylum documents. And he just said, ‘Welcome to the United States,'” Ali said.
However, last week the Trump administration directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers to pause all asylum decisions following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., according to an internal directive obtained by CBS News and two sources familiar with the order.
CBS Colorado reached out to ICE officials for comment on Wednesday, and while they said they were working on the request, as of Thursday evening, we did not receive an official statement.
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