Indian filmmaker Arfat Sheikh released from ICE detention after two weeks, DHS says he overstayed his visa

An award-winning Indian filmmaker from Kashmir Arfat Sheikh was released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention on bond Thursday weeks after his detention on September 24, his family and friends said. They have been campaigning for his release from what they called an illegal detention when Sheikh was coming off a plane from California at Washington Dulles International Airport.

Sheikh’s bond was granted Tuesday and he was released on Thursday but the case against him will continue. The Free Arfat Sheikh campaign said Arfat is based in Alexandria, Virginia and he came to the US in 2019 on a student visa to pursue graduate studies in film at Georgia State University. In 2020, he applied for asylum and as the application was pending, he was authorized to work and live in the US.

The Department of Homeland Security did not dispute the details and confirmed that Arfat indeed entered the US legally but they accused him of illegally overstaying the student visa, adding that a pending asylum application does not make him a legal resident. DHS said he will receive due process. Sheikh’s first feature film Saffron Kingdom, released in 2024, won Best Feature Film at the Chicago Filmmakers Awards, LA Film and Documentary Awards, Melbourne Independent Film Festival, Wake Forest Film Festival, and Anatolian International Film Awards, the advocacy campaign noted.

'They have come here for me'

Filmmaker Tara Dorabji who was accompanying Sheikh when he was arrested, said in a statement that when Arfat saw the men he said: "Tara, Tara, This is ICE. They have come for me." Dorabji said the officers were in plain clothes and not in any official uniform. He said they did not present any warrant and did not reveal why they were taking Arfat who complied with them.