An Afghan teenager whose detention by federal immigration agents became a national story was ordered released Monday on $1,500 bond from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility.
“Rihan is coming home, and that is a win,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of Afghan Evac, a coalition of veterans, national security professionals, human rights advocates, and Afghans. “But it is a win secured against a system that should never have detained him in the first place.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not oppose the release of 19-year-old high school senior, whose last name is being withheld at the request of his family, VanDiver said.
The plight of Rihan, whose father served as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan and was himself detained by ICE last year before a judge ordered his release, has become a national flashpoint for opponents of ICE tactics.
Last week, a small group of protesters from Plymouth picketed outside the jail, which has a contract to house ICE detainees.
Boston federal judge Richard Stearns ordered a bond hearing for Rihan no later than Monday.
The teenager fled Afghanistan in 2024 with his family seeking safety in the United States. He entered the United States having been granted humanitarian parole for two years. He then filed for adjustment of status while his parole status was still in effect. But he later discovered his online document admitting him to the United States wrongly listed a 1-year parole period, according to court documents.
Rihan’s parents both have pending asylum petitions. Rihan is a senior at Cheshire High School in Cheshire, CT, set to graduate in June, and has no criminal record.
ICE arrested him April 6 while he was riding in a car in his neighborhood with family members.
ICE agents first took him to a detention center in Hartford, CT and then moved him to Plymouth.
Rihan had filed a habeas petition in federal court in Connecticut challenging his detention and seeking immediate release.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org