ICE agents detained Indian filmmaker Arfat Sheikh at Washington Dulles Airport on Sept. 24, 2026, without a warrant, forcing him into immigration custody. He was traveling with award‑winning author Tara Dorabji to speak at an art‑and‑resistance forum in Washington.
The detention came days after a campaign launched by friends, colleagues and family demanded Sheikh’s release, citing his legal entry on a student visa in 2019 and asylum filing in 2020. The group has asked for $50,000 to secure legal representation.
Dorabji described the scene: "He called out to me, and I turned around. Arfat was surrounded by plain‑clothed men. They took him off the jetway onto the tarmac," she said. No warrant was presented, nor did the agents explain the grounds for the arrest.
Sheikh is now held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia and will face a procedural hearing before an immigration judge this Tuesday. His case underscores the tensions between U.S. immigration enforcement and artists with pending asylum claims.