World

Kashmiri Filmmaker Arfat Sheikh Released by ICE, Deportation Hearing Remains

By Al Jazeera Staff

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency released Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh from custody after his detention on September 24. Sheikh, 42, was granted bond two days earlier and was released on Thursday. His deportation case continues, with the next hearing scheduled for October 27, according to a statement from a campaign of his friends and relatives. Sheikh was detained by the Department of Homeland Security as he disembarked from a plane at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., after arriving from California. He entered the United States on a student visa in 2019 to pursue graduate studies in film at Georgia State University and filed for asylum in 2020. The campaign said he had a pending asylum application and was authorized to work and live in the U.S. The DHS confirmed that Sheikh had been arrested on September 24 and said he “legally entered the U.S. on a temporary basis and illegally overstayed his lawful admittance.” The DHS added that a pending application does not confer legal status and that Sheikh will receive due process. Sheikh’s first feature film, Saffron Kingdom, earned multiple honors, including best feature film at the Chicago Filmmakers Awards, Los Angeles Film and Documentary Awards, Melbourne Independent Film Festival, Wake Forest Film Festival and Anatolian International Film Awards. In 2025, he received the emerging filmmaker activist award at the Teaneck International Film Festival. His detention occurred amid a surge in ICE arrests across the U.S., which reached record levels over the summer, with about 50,000 arrests recorded in July and August. The Trump administration said in August that it was working “to identify and revoke the non‑immigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the U.S. claiming to be short‑term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently.”