A decorated U.S. Army veteran won his release from ICE custody in Tacoma, Washington and will get to spend Christmas with his family.
FOX13 reports Zahid Chaudhry had been at the detention center since August.
“I am a patriotic American soldier. I thought it would never happen, that this kind of erroneous thing, that four months, two days in this kind of detention, would never happen, should never happen in any disabled decorated American veteran,” said Chaudhry to reporters after his release.
ICE took him into custody during a naturalization hearing saying he hid a criminal conviction on his visa application before coming to the U.S. 25 years ago.
The Stranger reports US District Court Judge David G. Estudillo ordered his freedom Monday.
Estudillo told ICE it “was flat out wrong,” Chaudhry said to the Stranger. “They can make errors and innocent people—I mean, if it can happen to a decorated us veteran like me, who’s safe?”
His wife Melissa expressed relief that justice had been served, at least for now.
“My family will be whole again,” she said in a statement to The Burner. “My children will have their Baba home. And our communities will be richer and stronger by his presence – and more confident, and more courageous, because of this win. Today is proof that the rule of law still matters and that justice can prevail. When we fight, we win.”
She told reporters that ICE apologized during the hearing to both the family and the court. However, ICE says it will continue to seek Chaudhry’s deportation and insists it is doing the right thing. ICE explained its attorney only apologized for citing the wrong statute in her case.
She “believes the detention was lawful and authorized under the relevant legal authorities,” wrote communications Director Emily Langlie to The Stranger.
The case will continue in the Ninth Circuit.
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