He served America - and now they're locking him up to deport him

San Diego, June 19, 2025 - These are images you don’t forget: Two masked officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency escort a man in handcuffs out of a federal courthouse in San Diego. His name is Sayed Naser. He worked as an interpreter for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, served from 2015 to 2018, and co-owned a logistics company with his brothers that provided mine-clearing support to the military. In a video circulating on the platform X (formerly Twitter), Naser says, “I worked for the U.S. Army. I wanted a better life. I didn’t know it would end like this for me.”

Naser legally entered the United States in 2024 - with what is known as a humanitarian parole, granted after an appointment with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He properly filed an asylum application, and his case for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for at-risk local staff is also pending. But on June 11, the day of his first mandatory hearing, Naser was arrested by ICE agents immediately after leaving the courtroom. The official reason given was that the case was "improvidently issued" - a phrase that even leaves experienced attorneys at a loss. His lawyer, Brian McGoldrick, said, “No one knows what that’s supposed to mean.” According to human rights organizations, this phrase is increasingly being used to summarily end asylum cases and fulfill deportation quotas.

The U.S. government under President Donald Trump has drastically escalated its deportation policy in recent weeks. Thousands of arrests are now taking place inside or in front of courthouses where migrants are fulfilling their legal obligations - showing up for hearings and still getting detained. Sayed Naser is now being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a deportation prison near the Mexican border. If his asylum claim is denied, he faces immediate deportation - and it is unclear to where. In Afghanistan, his brother was murdered by the Taliban, and his father was kidnapped at a wedding. His wife and children are in hiding. The Naser case exemplifies a policy that treats former allies as threats. And it raises a devastating question: What is the word of the United States still worth - to those who risked their lives for it?