An Afghan man who worked alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last week in San Diego.
In a video obtained by CBS News, two unidentified ICE agents put Sayed Naser in handcuffs and escorted him from the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego after he attended a mandatory immigration hearing on Wednesday, June 11.
“For more than three years I worked for the U.S. military back in my home country,” Naser said in the video as the masked officers took him into custody. “I came here to make a better life. I didn’t know this was going to happen like this for me.”
Naser was legally paroled into the U.S in 2024, according to his lawyer, Brian McGoldrick. In addition to an active asylum case, he has a pending Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) case because of his long history supporting the U.S. military. SIVs are provided to foreign nationals who worked with U.S. military forces in war zones including Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Naser has no criminal record in the U.S. or Afghanistan, according to court records reviewed by CBS News.
“This man served with our troops. He came through the front door. He followed every rule. And we locked him up anyway,” said Shawn VanDiver, executive director for #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that advocates for U.S. wartime allies. He said it’s unknown how many Afghan allies have been detained by ICE officials.
The Department for Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
Naser served as a civilian interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan from 2015 to 2018. He and his brothers also co-owned a logistics company that provided anti-mining support to American troops, according to employment records viewed by CBS News.
“This individual was an important part of our Company commitment to provide the best possible service for our clients, who were the United States Military in Afghanistan,” says one employment document submitted as part of Naser’s SIV application.
But after the U.S. withdrew from the country in August 2021, his partnership with American forces put targets on the backs of Naser and his family. In 2023, Taliban fighters killed his brother and abducted his father at a family wedding. The attack drove Naser out of the country and forced his wife and children to flee their home.
“I cannot return to Afghanistan under any circumstances because I am accused of collaborating with U.S. forces. From the Taliban’s perspective, anyone who worked with foreign forces during the past 20 years is a spy, an infidel, and must be killed,” Naser wrote in his asylum declaration. His family remains in hiding outside of Afghanistan.
After his brother was killed, Naser fled to Brazil, where he was granted a humanitarian visa. He then made the more than 6,000 mile journey on foot through the Darién Gap before reaching Mexico. In 2024, he set up an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection through the app formerly known as CBP One — which allowed migrants to schedule appointments at legal ports of entry — where he was granted lawful parole into the U.S.
As part of his asylum process, Naser was required to attend an in-person hearing last week in front of a judge and a lawyer from the Department of Homeland Security. But when Naser showed up to court, the DHS lawyer said that his case was “‘improvidently issued.”
“Nobody knows what that means,” said McGoldrick, who tried to dispute the ruling. When pressed, the DHS lawyer refused to clarify further.
“‘Improvidently issued’ is becoming ICE’s new catch-all — a vague, unchallengeable justification being used to clear dockets and meet removal and detention quotas,” said VanDiver. “It’s being weaponized to put lawful, parole-compliant asylum-seekers in cells.”
When Naser left the courtroom after his hearing ended, he was immediately detained by ICE agents.
Video shared by #AfghanEvac showed Sayed Naser being taken into custody by ICE officers at a courthouse in San Diego. / Credit: Image from video/@AfghanEvac
Naser is now being held in the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. According to McGoldrick, he could be kept there for up to three months while his asylum case is adjudicated. If he is denied asylum, Naser will be put on an expedited removal list and likely deported. His lawyer does not know where he would be deported to, and DHS did not respond to our request for more information.
“He’s still in shock. He cannot believe this is happening to him,” McGoldrick said.
Naser’s wife, who remains in hiding with their children, found out about her husband’s detention when she saw the video of his detainment on social media.
Increase in arrests in courthouses
The last few weeks have seen an increase in ICE arrests outside of immigration hearings in courthouses around major American cities. In May, CBS News reported that the Trump administration was launching an operation to expedite the deportation of certain migrants by dismissing their cases and subsequently arresting them at courthouses around the country. The move shocked immigration advocates, as their clients are legally required to show up at their hearings.
Public arrests outside courts in Los Angeles led to more than a week of demonstrations as protesters faced off against thousands of law enforcement officials, including the National Guard.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump called on ICE to increase arrests in order to achieve his goal of the “largest Mass Deportation Operation of Illegal Aliens in History,” according to a post on Truth Social, the social media platforms he owns.
Reports from within the administration say that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have been pushing agencies since late May to meet a higher quota of deportations — including as much as 3,000 immigration-related arrests per day.
Typically, ICE agents need probable cause in order to detain someone to check their immigration status. This requires a higher standard of evidence pointing to an individual’s alleged violation of immigration law.
It’s not clear in Naser’s case what evidence there is that he was violating the law, his lawyer said. ICE provided a warrant for Naser’s arrest to his attorney outside the courtroom after he was detained.
“It’s really shocking what’s happening in courthouses in San Diego and around the country,” said McGoldrick. “You walk down the hall and it’s like you’re walking down executioner’s row. There’s all these armed personnel just eyeballing everybody as we come down. It’s just so intimidating that our clients are terrorized.”
Uncertain future for thousands of Afghans
The Trump administration has demonstrated a sharp turn away from supporting Afghans who worked with the U.S. government in the military’s two-decade-long conflict with the Taliban.
In May, Noem announced that the administration was terminating Temporary Protected Status for Afghans. TPS is an immigration designation that allows people from countries deemed dangerous by the U.S. to live and work in the United States without being detained by DHS. Nearly 11,000 Afghans who are in the U.S. under TPS will be at risk of deportation when the change in policy comes into effect in mid-July, said VanDiver.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration also instituted a travel ban on nationals from Afghanistan and 11 other countries, citing a need to address security concerns. Ahead of this announcement, over 100,000 Afghan wartime allies and their families had been vetted and cleared to enter the U.S., says #AfghanEvac. They are now unable to travel to the U.S. unless they are granted an SIV visa and can fund their own travel, without government support. Many live in danger of retribution from the Taliban.
“Afghanistan remains under the control of the Taliban. There are still assassinations, arbitrary arrests, and ongoing human rights abuses, especially against women and ethnic minorities,” said VanDiver. “The United States cannot abandon its allies and call that immigration policy.”
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