A filmmaker whose award-winning work has explored conflict in his native Kashmir has been detained by United States immigration officials on suspicion of residing and working in the country illegally.
Arfat Sheikh was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after disembarking a flight from California at Washington Dulles International Airport on September 24, according to a statement from friends and relatives who labeled his detention “unlawful” and are calling for his release.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, confirmed to the Reuters news agency on Wednesday that Sheikh had “legally entered the US on a temporary basis and illegally overstayed his lawful admittance.”
Sheikh, 42, entered the US in 2019 on a student visa and enrolled on a graduate course in film studies at Georgia State University, according to the statement from friends and family.
Having applied for asylum in 2020, the statement said he had a pending immigration application and was authorized to work and live in the US. It did not mention the ground for asylum.
The DHS said Sheikh would receive due process but that a pending application does not confer legal residency status.
ICE arrests up amid Trump immigration crackdown
US President Donald Trump has been pursuing an immigration crackdown and deportation drive that he claims is aimed at improving domestic security.
His administration said in August it was to “identify and revoke the non-immigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the US claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently.”
The number of ICE arrests hit record levels this summer, with about 51,000 recorded across August.
Critics say the crackdown has violated due process and free speech rights and has created an unsafe environment, particularly for ethnic minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.
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Sheikh, who hails from India-administered Kashmir, won the Emerging Filmmaker Activist Award at the Teaneck International Film Festival in 2025.
His first feature film, 2024’s “Saffron Kingdom,” won Best Feature Film at the Chicago Filmmakers Awards, the LA Film and Documentary Awards, the Melbourne Independent Film Festival and the Wake Forest Film Festival.
The film explored conflict in Kashmir, a disputed Muslim-majority region claimed by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, which each control only part of it and have fought wars over it.
Edited by: Rana Taha
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