Latest news with #SaifullahKhan
Toronto Star
a day ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Ex-Yale student released from immigration jail; US judges limit ICE arrest authority in CT courts
HARTFORD, Conn. — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents released Afghan refugee Saifullah Khan on bond Friday evening, nearly a month after they immobilized him with Taser fire and detained him as he and his wife left an immigration hearing in Hartford's federal building. In a related development, Connecticut's U.S. District Court judges issued an order less than a month after Khan's arrest limiting the authority of federal immigration agents to make arrests and detain people in buildings that house the state's three federal courts.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ex-Yale student released from immigration jail; U.S. judges limit ICE arrest authority in CT courts
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents released Afghan refugee Saifullah Khan on bond Friday evening, nearly a month after they immobilized him with Taser fire and detained him as he and his wife left an immigration hearing in Hartford's federal building. In a related development, Connecticut's U.S. District Court judges issued an order less than a month after Khan's arrest limiting the authority of federal immigration agents to make arrests and detain people in buildings that house the state's three federal courts. Khan, who was born in a Pakistani refugee camp after his family was forced by the Taliban to flee Afghanistan, came to the United States to study at Yale University. He has applied for asylum and the application had been pending for nine years when he was detained on May 9. Witnesses said plain clothes ICE agents confronted Khan without identifying themselves as he left an immigration hearing. When he tried to return to the courtroom to seek assistance from the judge, he was hit seven times with Tasers and required medical attention. Immigration Judge Theodore Doolittle tried to intervene in the arrest, but was not allowed to do so by immigration agents, the witnesses said. The arrest took place on the sixth floor of a secure Ribicoff Federal Building on Main Street. Khan was held at immigration detention centers in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania since his arrest — including the three days since Tuesday when an immigration judge in Massachusetts issued an order releasing him on a $7,500 bond. During a brief conversation after his release in Pennsylvania Friday night, as he was driven to a meeting with family members, Khan said he has not been given an explanation as to what led to his arrest, why he was not immediately allowed to post a court-ordered bond and why he ultimately was released. Immigration authorities did not respond to questions about the case. 'While I was hospitalized, they told me: 'We were in hot pursuit. We were going to get you. You shouldn't have run,'' Khan said. 'I was at court,' he said. 'I am law abiding. I was presenting myself to the judge. Even if it is a final order for removal, I am very grateful for the time I have been in the United States. I have been here for 14 years. I am very lucky to have spent so much time here and been given the opportunity to assimilate. And I would like to have that opportunity and privilege in the future as well. I would love to be an American citizen. I would love to be able to call myself an American.' Khan's arrest followed his decision to sue in an effort to compel a decision on his asylum application after years of what his lawyers characterized as government inaction. The suit names senior Trump administration figures, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Within weeks of naming Noem and the others, Khan received a notice that ICE had begun proceedings to deport him and he was ordered to appear at the hearing, after which he was detained. He has no criminal record, but was accused by a Yale classmate of sexually assaulting her after a date in 2015. He was acquitted of all charges after a trial in criminal court. When Yale expelled him in spite of the acquittal, he sued the school for defamation and related rights violations. The suit is pending. The order Thursday by the federal judges concerning arrests in federal court buildings prevents immigration agents from making arrests and detaining people in areas of the buildings occupied by the federal courts and restricts authority to do so to the U.S. Marshal Service. In Hartford's Ribicoff Federal Building, which is larger than federal court buildings in New Haven and Bridgeport and houses federal agencies other than the courts on upper floors, Department of Homeland Security agents can continue to make arrests on non-judicial floors, according to the order. The order appears to be limited to judicial areas of the Ribicoff building because of questions about whether the security authority of the federal judiciary extends to areas of federal buildings that house operations of executive branch agencies, such as Homeland Security and its subsidiary agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration courts are not part of the federal judiciary, but are operated by executive branch appointees for the purpose of adjudicating immigration questions. Increasingly aggressive efforts by federal immigration authorities to arrest non citizens — including decisions to target courts for enforcement efforts — has led to concerns about safety and other issues among some court administrators. The federal judiciary said its order limiting arrest authority in Connecticut's U.S. District Court is based on a commitment to ensure 'the orderly conduct of court proceedings and the safety of litigants, witnesses, attorneys, the public, and court personnel.' Similar questions are being analyzed by officials working in the state judiciary, which has a far greater case volume than the federal courts. Among other things, there have been discussions in both court systems about whether immigration agents should be allowed to enter courtrooms while proceedings are underway in order to detain suspected non-citizens. Among other things, prosecutors warn that such detentions could lead eventually to dismissal of charges against criminal defendants who have been the subject of protracted criminal investigation and prosecution. The federal court order makes certain exceptions, including for circumstances in which suspects turn themselves in for arrest and agents transport people arrested elsewhere to court.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ex-Yale student released from immigration jail; U.S. judges limit ICE arrest authority in CT courts
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents released Afghan refugee Saifullah Khan on bond Friday evening, nearly a month after they immobilized him with Taser fire and detained him as he and his wife left an immigration hearing in Hartford's federal building. In a related development, Connecticut's U.S. District Court judges issued an order less than a month after Khan's arrest limiting the authority of federal immigration agents to make arrests and detain people in buildings that house the state's three federal courts. Khan, who was born in a Pakistani refugee camp after his family was forced by the Taliban to flee Afghanistan, came to the United States to study at Yale University. He has applied for asylum and the application had been pending for nine years when he was detained on May 9. Witnesses said plain clothes ICE agents confronted Khan without identifying themselves as he left an immigration hearing. When he tried to return to the courtroom to seek assistance from the judge, he was hit seven times with Tasers and required medical attention. Immigration Judge Theodore Doolittle tried to intervene in the arrest, but was not allowed to do so by immigration agents, the witnesses said. The arrest took place on the sixth floor of a secure Ribicoff Federal Building on Main Street. Khan was held at immigration detention centers in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania since his arrest — including the three days since Tuesday when an immigration judge in Massachusetts issued an order releasing him on a $7,500 bond. During a brief conversation after his release in Pennsylvania Friday night, as he was driven to a meeting with family members, Khan said he has not been given an explanation as to what led to his arrest, why he was not immediately allowed to post a court-ordered bond and why he ultimately was released. Immigration authorities did not respond to questions about the case. 'While I was hospitalized, they told me: 'We were in hot pursuit. We were going to get you. You shouldn't have run,'' Khan said. 'I was at court,' he said. 'I am law abiding. I was presenting myself to the judge. Even if it is a final order for removal, I am very grateful for the time I have been in the United States. I have been here for 14 years. I am very lucky to have spent so much time here and been given the opportunity to assimilate. And I would like to have that opportunity and privilege in the future as well. I would love to be an American citizen. I would love to be able to call myself an American.' Khan's arrest followed his decision to sue in an effort to compel a decision on his asylum application after years of what his lawyers characterized as government inaction. The suit names senior Trump administration figures, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Within weeks of naming Noem and the others, Khan received a notice that ICE had begun proceedings to deport him and he was ordered to appear at the hearing, after which he was detained. He has no criminal record, but was accused by a Yale classmate of sexually assaulting her after a date in 2015. He was acquitted of all charges after a trial in criminal court. When Yale expelled him in spite of the acquittal, he sued the school for defamation and related rights violations. The suit is pending. The order Thursday by the federal judges concerning arrests in federal court buildings prevents immigration agents from making arrests and detaining people in areas of the buildings occupied by the federal courts and restricts authority to do so to the U.S. Marshal Service. In Hartford's Ribicoff Federal Building, which is larger than federal court buildings in New Haven and Bridgeport and houses federal agencies other than the courts on upper floors, Department of Homeland Security agents can continue to make arrests on non-judicial floors, according to the order. The order appears to be limited to judicial areas of the Ribicoff building because of questions about whether the security authority of the federal judiciary extends to areas of federal buildings that house operations of executive branch agencies, such as Homeland Security and its subsidiary agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration courts are not part of the federal judiciary, but are operated by executive branch appointees for the purpose of adjudicating immigration questions. Increasingly aggressive efforts by federal immigration authorities to arrest non citizens — including decisions to target courts for enforcement efforts — has led to concerns about safety and other issues among some court administrators. The federal judiciary said its order limiting arrest authority in Connecticut's U.S. District Court is based on a commitment to ensure 'the orderly conduct of court proceedings and the safety of litigants, witnesses, attorneys, the public, and court personnel.' Similar questions are being analyzed by officials working in the state judiciary, which has a far greater case volume than the federal courts. Among other things, there have been discussions in both court systems about whether immigration agents should be allowed to enter courtrooms while proceedings are underway in order to detain suspected non-citizens. Among other things, prosecutors warn that such detentions could lead eventually to dismissal of charges against criminal defendants who have been the subject of protracted criminal investigation and prosecution. The federal court order makes certain exceptions, including for circumstances in which suspects turn themselves in for arrest and agents transport people arrested elsewhere to court.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Afghan refugee Tased by ICE in CT claims arrest was retaliatory. He's moved, wife can't find him
A judge early Tuesday ordered the release on bond of an Afghan refugee living in New Haven who was arrested and taken into custody when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot him seven times with Tasers inside the federal court building in Hartford, according to information presented in court. However, Saifullah Khan's wife, a U.S. citizen, said he was still in custody Tuesday evening and and there were indications he may have been transferred to some other institution from the state jail in Plymouth, Mass. where he was being held earn when his family learned of the bond decision. At 6 p.m., she said she had been unable to learn where Khan was being held. In a related matter, Saifullah Khan's lawyers argued in new papers filed in U.S. District Court that his arrest on May 9 was in retaliation for a suit he filed just weeks earlier that names top Trump administration security officials and demands that they be compelled to finally act on an asylum application he filed nine years ago. Khan, who was arrested in Hartford, was being held for two weeks at Plymouth and his bond hearing took place in Chelmsford, Mass. According to online ICE records, he remains in the Plymouth facility. U.S. Immigration Judge Donald Ostrom heard argument for and against bond during a hearing in Chelmsford last week and, at the time, said he would issue a written decision at a later date. On Tuesday, the U.S. immigration court in Massachusetts issued a two page form with a box checked next to 'released from custody under bond of $7,500.00.' The Department of Justice can appeal the decision. Khan, 32, was confronted by five ICE agents earlier this month after he and his wife walked to an elevator at the conclusion of an immigration hearing on the sixth floor of the federal building, according to information presented in court. When the plain clothes agents did not identify themselves, Khan called out for the immigration judge and tried to re-enter the courtroom. Khan required medical attention for a possible concussion after being immobilized by the Taser fire and falling, according to the information presented in court. Hartford immigration Judge Theodore Doolittle was rebuked for interfering by the ICE agents when he intervened in the commotion outside his courtroom, according to information presented at the bond hearing and other witnesses. Khan, who was born in a Pakistani refugee camp after his family was forced by the Taliban to flee Afghanistan, entered the U.S. to study at Yale in 2012 and applied for asylum in 2016 when he lost his student visa. In late March, after 9 years of what Khan's lawyers characterized as 'inaction on his asylum application,' he filed what is known as a mandamus action in an effort to compel U.S. immigration officials to settle the question. The suit names the five ICE agents who detained Khan, as well as five senior Trump administration figures, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 'Prior to filing this lawsuit, Plaintiff made numerous inquiries about the status of his applications through proper channels, including case inquiries and requests to expedite, all of which were either ignored or met with form responses indicating the cases remained under review,' Khan's lawyers wrote in a court filing. Within weeks of naming Noem and the others in the suit, Khan received a notice that ICE had begun proceedings to deport him and he was ordered to appear at the hearing after which he was hit with the Tasers and taken into custody, according to the court filing. The Justice Department opposed releasing Khan bond, arguing among other things that they had been unable to locate him for the seven years preceding his arrest on May 9. According to statements made in court, immigration officials had Khan's address and regularly mailed him notices, including the order to appear in court in Hartford on the day he was arrested. Federal immigration officials have not responded to requests to discuss the case. Khan has no criminal record, but was accused by a Yale classmate of sexually assaulting her after a date in 2015. He was acquitted of all charges after a trial in criminal court. When Yale expelled him in spite of the acquittal, he sued the school for defamation and related rights violations. The state Supreme Court has ruled that the Yale internal disciplinary process that resulted in the expulsion was unfair and a federal appeals court has refused to dismiss the defamation suit.
Business Recorder
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
APCAA Chairman Saifullah Khan passes away
KARACHI: Saifullah Khan, Chairman, All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA), passed away on Wednesday at a local hospital after a brief illness. He was 67 years old. Saif was a prominent leader and an active voice for customs clearing fraternity. He was hospitalized last week due to declining health before his passing. His funeral prayer was held after Zuhr prayers at Masjid Kabir in Defence phase 6, followed by burial at the Defence Phase 8 graveyard. Saif is survived by his two widows, three sons, and a daughter. According to his son Fahad Ullah Khan, his father had no apparent severe illness and was conversing with family members shortly before his death. The funeral was attended by numerous dignitaries, including Anis Ahmad Qaim Khani of MQM Pakistan, Sindh Chief Minister's Advisor Najmi Alam, Ahmed Shah, President of Arts Council of Pakistan, Chief Collector Customs Nasir Jamil, Collectors Customs Amir Thaheem, and Feroze Alam Junejo. Other notable attendees included Shafiq Latki, former senior Pakistan Customs officer and ex-Federal Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi, FPCCI Senior Vice President Saqib Fayaz Magoon, Vice President FPCCI Asif Sakhi, former President Mian Nasir Hayat Magoon, Muhammad Amir, President of All Pakistan Customs Agents Association, Karachi), and several former KCCI presidents including Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, Amjad Rafi, and Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra. The gathering also included Shabir Mansha Chhara, Wasiq Hussain Khan, Ameen Essani, former Pakistan Television producer Iqbal Latif, Javed Ahmed Vohra, Younis Somroo, Abid Chinai, Sharjeel Goplani, Shakeel Ahmed Dhingra, Shams Burney, and other prominent figures from trade, industry, and customs sectors. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
