Seizure of Former Afghan US Translator from Connecticut Threatens National Security, Vets Say

The recent seizure of an Afghan man by masked ICE agents in East Hartford threatens not only his life but also those of future generations of American soldiers, veterans fighting for his release said.

"The Trump administration is recategorizing legal immigrants to illegal," said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and president of AfghanEvac, a veterans group that works to protect U.S. allies.

"They are targeting those who trusted us enough to stand by us, targeting the friends of U.S. service members. ... This is about whether this country honors its word to those who risk everything. Zia worked with U.S. forces, his family was tortured by the Taliban because of that service, he entered the country legally ... ," VanDiver, who hosted a press call on the issue, said.

Zia, who served as a translator for the United States military during the war in Afghanistan, was granted a Chief of Mission Special Immigration Visa in 2024 and settled in Connecticut in 2025, according to his attorney, Lauren Petersen.

He has no criminal history, a pending green card application, a full-time job and a wife and children in Connecticut. Zia was reporting for a routine biometrics appointment to have his fingerprints taken, Petersen said, when he was surrounded by six masked, armed ICE agents and thrown into a van. He was later taken to Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts, where he is currently being held.

"My office was contacted last week by the family," said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, on the call. "They simply had no idea even where Zia was being held.

"We had someone who was here legally, who had no interaction with law enforcement, who did everything they were supposed to do, who was invited to this country, escorted into this country, to now be detained and the family had no idea where he was, it was incredibly overwhelming," Hayes said.

None of the elected officials on the call, including Hayes, in whose Connecticut district Zia and his family live, Rep. Bill Keating, in whose district Zia is being held, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who has worked for years to secure the evacuation and safety of U.S. allies in Afghanistan, had received an explanation from ICE for Zia's arrest.

"ICE has not been engaging with me at any level of responsibility. We have reached out to them but they have been unresponsive," Blumenthal said.

"When we tried to get answers from Homeland Security or the FBI or anyone involved, we were told, believe it or not, 'We're not giving you an answer,'" Keating said. "They literally said 'We are not giving you an answer.'"

Keating said he had also reached out to Republican colleagues to ask if they were aware of what was happening with ICE. VanDiver said Zia was not the only Afghan who had aided U.S. troops to be detained by ICE.

Keating said ICE's arrests, without explanation or due process, had been seemingly indiscriminate in his district.

"I had a person in New Bedford ... that was in their automobile with their family. (ICE) smashed the windows, they pulled the person out, they were giving the name of another person. (The person arrested) said 'That's not me.' It didn't matter. They took him, they detained him, they held him," Keating said.

Working to deliver President Donald Trump's promise of the largest mass deportation program in history, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in late May reportedly directed ICE agents to arrest 3,000 people a day.

Hayes said the quota has deprioritized arresting violent criminals in "an attempt to raise those numbers, to save face, to shift public perception and convince the people in our communities that anyone who immigrates or comes to this country from anywhere around the world poses a danger to us."

The resulting actions are lawless and undermine national security, she said.

"There is a fundamental erosion of trust, erosion of credibility and really a question that will be lingering when we call on our allies and our friends for help," Hayes said. "When we need to build relationships and community, when we need literally something as simple as translation in a foreign land, will people trust the United States and does our word mean anything?"

Hayes and Blumenthal said they were working to free Zia through every means available. Blumenthal mentioned amicus briefs and ongoing legal action, as well voicing his opposition in hearings and through appropriations votes. But he said he didn't want to make public all of their efforts.

The Department of Homeland Security is now claiming Zia "is currently under investigation for a serious criminal allegation," which came as a surprise to Petersen.

"We have seen DHS in numerous cases over and over and over again make things up, stretch the truth, outright lie to the American people," VanDiver said. "Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, said 'Oh, things are great in Afghanistan, it's perfectly safe to send people back.' And this isn't a partisan statement, it's a factual statement: These people are full of s***. ... They keep messing things up and we need ICE to stop trying to take the low-hanging fruit of any random brown person that they can see on the street."

On July 18, a U.S. District Court issued a stay of removal in response to a habeas petition seeking Zia's release. ICE is seeking extradited removal, initially claiming he was in the U.S. illegally without documents.

"The courts are our last firewall," Petersen said. "A judge temporarily stayed his removal but he's still in detention, he's still hours from his family, incredibly hurt and confused about why he's there and terrified, absolutely terrified that he'll be sent back to Afghanistan. Zia must be released.

"His case needs to be adjudicated by the rules, the same rules that he has followed. We need Congress and all of the American public to see what's happening before this continues happening to others."

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