Examiner Bureau | Srinagar:
Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh has been released on bond from the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but deportation proceedings against him are continuing, according to a campaign launched by his friends and relatives.
Reuters reported that Sheikh was released on Thursday after a bond was granted on Tuesday. He had been in immigration detention since September 24.
According to the campaign, Sheikh, an award-winning filmmaker, was detained upon arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport after travelling from California.
Sheikh had been living in Alexandria, Virginia, after moving to the United States in 2019 on a student visa to pursue graduate studies in film at Georgia State University. The campaign said he applied for asylum in 2020 and had an immigration application pending, along with authorisation to live and work in the country.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, said Sheikh was arrested on September 24 for overstaying the authorised period of his temporary admission to the United States, Reuters reported.
The department maintained that a pending immigration application does not, by itself, confer legal immigration status, adding that Sheikh would be afforded due process.
His detention comes amid the Trump administration’s broader immigration enforcement drive and efforts to increase deportations.
In August, the administration said it was working to identify and revoke non-immigrant visas held by foreign nationals who entered the United States as short-term visitors before subsequently applying for asylum to remain in the country.
Although Sheikh has been released on bond, the ongoing deportation proceedings mean his immigration case remains unresolved.
