A former Afghan interpreter arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in June after a routine immigration status hearing is leaving ICE detention after almost four months.
Gonzalo Curiel, a federal district judge in San Diego, ordered Sayed Naser Noori released "immediately" Friday, finding the government violated his right to due process.
"This is a momentous decision and we are so grateful that Sayed is finally being released after months of wrongful detention," said advocate Shawn VanDiver in an email.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
VanDiver is president and co-founder of AfghanEvac, a non-profit that supports Afghan resettlement.
Noori immigrated to the United States last year via CBP One, a Biden-era immigration program since canceled by the Trump administration.
Noori was arrested June 12 after attending a mandatory immigration hearing — his first since coming to the U.S. and requesting asylum.
The government said his notice to appear at the hearing was "improvidently issued" — a mistake — and asked the judge to dismiss his case.
Upon leaving the courtroom, masked ICE agents put Noori in handcuffs. He's been in ICE detention in San Diego since.
VanDiver said it's not clear when Noori will be released but expects it will be a few days.
Noori and his advocates are expected to speak publicly next week.
According to his asylum application, Noori fled Afghanistan in 2023 after the Taliban killed one of his brothers at a wedding. Noori and two of his brothers ran a company that contracted with the U.S.
The application also says he worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military.
The two surviving brothers fled. Noori made his way to Tijuana and was admitted into the U.S. legally.
The Department of Homeland Security said June 19 on its X account that the government doesn't have evidence Noori worked with the U.S. military.
Contracting and employment records viewed by KPBS indicate he did.
"We know (that) contract is valid," VanDiver said. "I think they just didn't look in the right place."
Noori's surviving brother also made it to the U.S., where he was recently granted asylum.
