A Pakistani immigrant and husband of a former congressional candidate was taken into ICE detention on Thursday, Aug. 21, at a citizenship interview at a federal office in Tukwila.
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, who uses a wheelchair and has lived in the United States for 25 years, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office, according to the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA).
Chaudhry is married to Melissa Chaudhry, a former Democratic candidate for Congress in Washington’s 9th District. The couple lives in Olympia with their two young children. He is a longtime member of the Olympia chapter of Veterans for Peace and is described by supporters as a decorated and disabled U.S. military veteran.
“ICE has stolen a beloved husband, a fiercely tender father, and a passionately patriotic American,” Melissa Chaudhry said in a statement released by CAIR-WA. “He came to this interview in good faith. ICE must release this decorated, disabled American veteran—return the heart of my family—and show the world that America still stands for justice and peace.”
CAIR-WA Legal Director Hannah Vickner Hough said it is rare for someone to be taken into custody at a citizenship interview but noted a growing trend of aggressive enforcement actions targeting Muslim immigrants.
“Whatever the circumstances of an individual’s immigration process, the government needs to provide the due process protections when an individual is working their way through the immigration system,” Hough said.
Chaudhry’s detention comes amid mounting concern from civil rights groups about what they describe as disproportionate immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s second term.
CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has called for Chaudhry’s immediate release and for federal authorities to investigate the circumstances of his detention.
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