The Taliban’s former ambassador to Spain was detained by U.S. immigration officials while entering the United States on Saturday, and remained in custody after a federal judge declined to order his release on Monday.
The former Afghan diplomat, Mohammad Rahim Wahidi, was detained at Washington Dulles International Airport under what his lawyer described as a weaponization of part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the law, the secretary of state can deport a noncitizen determined to be a national security risk.
Mr. Wahidi is a lawful permanent resident and his wife, Mary Shakeri-Wahidi, is a U.S. citizen, according to a court filing from his lawyer, Hassan Ahmad.
The Trump administration has recently cited similar legal justifications for canceling the visas of hundreds of students whose participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations has appeared to become grounds for detention and deportation. In targeting student activists such as Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk and Momodou Taal for deportation, the administration has tried to link their protests against Israel to “adverse foreign policy consequences” that would justify their removal.
Mr. Wahidi’s case appears to be different.
According to the filing asking for his release, Mr. Wahidi’s brother-in-law is wanted by the United States in connection with a plot to assassinate an Iranian journalist that the Justice Department detailed in a news release in November.
Mr. Wahidi was stripped of his title in Spain over accusations of sexual assault during his time there, but criminal charges were never filed against him and he was allowed to leave the country, according to the filing.
Upon returning to the United States on a Turkish Airlines flight on Saturday, Mr. Wahidi was detained for more than 30 hours without access to a lawyer, according to the filing. He was then interrogated by “an unclear number of officers” who appeared to be from the F.B.I., Mr. Ahmad wrote in the petition.
Mr. Ahmad has also represented Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral student at Georgetown University who was targeted for deportation over his involvement in campus protests there.
After Mr. Wahidi’s petition was filed, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia blocked the government from transferring Mr. Wahidi out of the area. In cases involving the student activists, people have routinely been moved to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in Louisiana, hundreds of miles from where they were initially arrested.
Neither Mr. Ahmad nor a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection responded to requests for comment.
Judge Brinkema declined to immediately order Mr. Wahidi’s release, saying that “at this point the court cannot offer any relief.”
While the case proceeds, she ordered the government to “comply with C.B.P. short-term detention standards” and not to restrict Mr. Wahidi from speaking to a lawyer.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the U.S. Department of Education, the White House and federal courts. More about Zach Montague
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