Attorneys for an Afghan family of five that were detained by immigration officials when they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport last week filed a petition in federal court Saturday seeking their release, arguing that they were approved for relocation because of the father’s work with the U.S. government.
Women protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban at LAX last month. (Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
The father, mother and their three children — ages 7, 6 and 8 months — arrived at LAX on Thursday afternoon for a connecting flight to Seattle, where they planned to resettle, but were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to Talia Inlender, a senior staff attorney with Public Counsel, a non-profit organization that provides free legal services.
The habeas corpus petition was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of the family by the International Refugee Assistance Project. The names of the detainees have not been released because attorneys have not received approval to make them public and because it could put the family in harm’s way.
Inlender said the father had been employed by the U.S. government in Afghanistan and after intense vetting of the family, he and his family received special immigration visas or SIVs. She did not know what type of work the father had done but SIVs are typically given to Iraq and Afghan translators and interpreters.
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