The start of 2026 turned into a frightening ordeal for a Burlington family after federal immigration agents detained a Somali refugee outside Burlington International Airport on Jan. 1. Maryan Maalin said she received an alarming phone call from the wife of Hussien Noor Hussien after immigration agents took him into custody while he was working as a taxi driver outside the airport.“I got a call from Hussien’s wife — Runbila is her name,” Maalin said.Maalin said Runbila was working inside the airport when security personnel told her her husband had been taken from his vehicle by agents in marked cars.“I watched that video — he was literally working, earning a living for his kids,” Maalin said.Security camera footage shows less than five minutes passing from the time two vehicles surrounded Hussien’s taxi in the airport pickup lane to when he was taken into custody. Maalin said the family was initially told Hussien had been brought to the Burlington Police Department, then the South Burlington Police Department, but he was not at either location.“So then we were panicking, and we’re like, ‘Where is he?’” Maalin said.Maalin said she sat with Hussien’s wife and their five children as they desperately tried to find out where he’d been taken.“We were sitting in the kitchen, and there were so many things going through our head, trying to figure out where he could be,” Maalin said. “Then phone rang.”Maalin said Hussien told them he was being held at Northwest Correctional Facility in St. Albans.“We were like, ‘OK, now we know where he is,’ but then they told us on the phone, ‘You can’t visit, you can’t call, you can’t do anything. You can’t bring anything. You can’t do nothing,’” she said.According to Maalin, Hussien, a Somali refugee, has lived in the United States since 2004. In 2019, a federal court in Maine found him guilty of fraud-related charges connected to his naturalization. The case stemmed from the time he spent as a refugee in Kenya before coming to the United States. The Department of Homeland Security alleges Hussien used a different name while in Kenya, which he continued to use after moving to the U.S.Hussien served a two-month sentence before being released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Maalin said, and has since complied with all immigration reporting requirements. The Department of Homeland Security says the conviction makes him subject to deportation.“He’s not a criminal. He doesn’t even kill a fly, so he’s not running away,” Maalin said. “Knowing him, he’s someone who helps everybody around him.”Maalin said Hussien has an immigration hearing scheduled in Massachusetts in 2027 and that a legal team is filing petitions to prevent him from being moved out of Vermont while his case proceeds.She said the detention has sent shock waves through already fearful immigrant and refugee communities.“There’s constant fear — even going to get the basics, like grocery shopping,” Maalin said. “People are scared. I’m scared myself, too.”However, Maalin said support from Vermonter’s has been critical.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. —
The start of 2026 turned into a frightening ordeal for a Burlington family after federal immigration agents detained a Somali refugee outside Burlington International Airport on Jan. 1.
Maryan Maalin said she received an alarming phone call from the wife of Hussien Noor Hussien after immigration agents took him into custody while he was working as a taxi driver outside the airport.
“I got a call from Hussien’s wife — Runbila is her name,” Maalin said.
Maalin said Runbila was working inside the airport when security personnel told her her husband had been taken from his vehicle by agents in marked cars.
“I watched that video — he was literally working, earning a living for his kids,” Maalin said.
Security camera footage shows less than five minutes passing from the time two vehicles surrounded Hussien’s taxi in the airport pickup lane to when he was taken into custody. Maalin said the family was initially told Hussien had been brought to the Burlington Police Department, then the South Burlington Police Department, but he was not at either location.
“So then we were panicking, and we’re like, ‘Where is he?’” Maalin said.
Maalin said she sat with Hussien’s wife and their five children as they desperately tried to find out where he’d been taken.
“We were sitting in the kitchen, and there were so many things going through our head, trying to figure out where he could be,” Maalin said. “Then [Runbila’s] phone rang.”
Maalin said Hussien told them he was being held at Northwest Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
“We were like, ‘OK, now we know where he is,’ but then they told us on the phone, ‘You can’t visit, you can’t call, you can’t do anything. You can’t bring anything. You can’t do nothing,’” she said.
According to Maalin, Hussien, a Somali refugee, has lived in the United States since 2004. In 2019, a federal court in Maine found him guilty of fraud-related charges connected to his naturalization. The case stemmed from the time he spent as a refugee in Kenya before coming to the United States. The Department of Homeland Security alleges Hussien used a different name while in Kenya, which he continued to use after moving to the U.S.
Hussien served a two-month sentence before being released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Maalin said, and has since complied with all immigration reporting requirements. The Department of Homeland Security says the conviction makes him subject to deportation.
“He’s not a criminal. He doesn’t even kill a fly, so he’s not running away,” Maalin said. “Knowing him, he’s someone who helps everybody around him.”
Maalin said Hussien has an immigration hearing scheduled in Massachusetts in 2027 and that a legal team is filing petitions to prevent him from being moved out of Vermont while his case proceeds.
She said the detention has sent shock waves through already fearful immigrant and refugee communities.
“There’s constant fear — even going to get the basics, like grocery shopping,” Maalin said. “People are scared. I’m scared myself, too.”
However, Maalin said support from Vermonter’s has been critical.