Afghan immigrants in Utah breathing easier, for now, amid heightened scrutiny from feds

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Three members of Utah's Afghan community can breathe easier after unexpected meetings with immigration officials unfolded without problems.
Of two others who were detained, one has been released and is back home in Utah.
Afghan immigrants across the country have come under increased scrutiny by federal officials since a deadly attack last year in Washington, D.C., by an Afghan man.

SALT LAKE CITY — Several members of Utah's Afghan immigrant community who had feared detention and deportation can breathe easier.

Two members of the community in Utah were detained unexpectedly in late December, and three others received surprise notices for meetings with immigration officials related to their migratory status. One of the two men detained has been freed, however, and the three who had to check in with authorities had their meetings without any complications and returned home.

"It is very, very good news right now. We are so happy. Everything is good," said Hassan Mortazavi, a naturalized U.S. citizen now living in Utah who has been assisting the men. All of them belong to the Hazara community, an ethnic, predominantly Shia Muslim minority that faces persecution from Afghanistan's Taliban government, and Mortazavi heads the Utah Hazara Association.

President Donald Trump's ongoing crackdown on immigration has put many in the community on edge. After the Nov. 26 shooting last year by an Afghan national of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration turned its sights on immigrants from the nation, heightening the worry among Afghans in the United States. The U.S. government announced a day after the attack, which killed one of the Guardsmen, that immigrants from Afghanistan and numerous other countries would face increased scrutiny from U.S. authorities.

That announcement precipitated the two local detentions last December and the surprise notices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the three Afghans to check in with immigration officials. The same thing is occurring around the country, according to Mortazavi.

Two of the meetings were last week, for Ali Qasimi and Zafar Zulfaquar, and the third, for a man who asked to remain anonymous, was earlier this week. Among other things, authorities asked for up to date contact information, with the meetings lasting just minutes.

"If everything is the same as before ... have a good day," Mortazavi said, referencing the sort of comments immigration officials made.

One of the two men detained, who family only identified as Ali, is back home. He posted bond with federal officials "and then he came back and he's with his family right now," Mortazavi said. The other detained man is in a facility in Louisiana, still working on his release, but efforts seem to be moving forward.

All the men have requested asylum and are waiting for the processes to proceed. Meantime, while momentarily relieved, they are still attentive to what's to come.

"Hopefully there is no issue right how. But they have to think about it," Mortazavi said.

The Afghans in Utah have received help from many Utah families, the Utah Hazara Association and the Draper-based Ward Foundation, which assists refugees.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.