Zia, a New Haven-area Afghan immigrant who served as a U.S. military interpreter before the Taliban took over in 2021, is seen in a photo taken by his brother before he was detained U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in East Hartford on July 16, 2025.courtesy AfghanEvacAn interpreter who worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and was arrested by immigration officials in Connecticut earlier this month “is a risk to the national security of the United States,” federal officials said in a court filing Friday.But the man’s attorney denied the claim.Article continues below this ad“Zia risked his life to secure America’s interests abroad; he has never and does not now pose a threat to national security,” his attorney, Lauren Petersen, said in a statement to CT Insider. “We are working vigorously for his release and to reunite him with his family.”The interpreter’s supporters have asked that reporters refer to him only as Zia because he fears for the safety of his family members who are still in Afghanistan.At a press conference last week, Petersen said Zia entered the United States legally last year under a process known as humanitarian parole along with his wife and five children.More For YouBut on July 16, six masked agents with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Zia in East Hartford as he left a routine appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) related to his application for legal permanent residency, Petersen said.Article continues below this adICE is holding Zia at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, in Massachusetts, according to the agency’s online detainee locator. There are no immigration detention facilities in Connecticut.On July 17, the day after he was arrested, Zia filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts challenging his detention.In response, ICE acting Deputy Field Office Director John Charpentier said in a court filing Friday the agency learned Zia poses a risk to national security from the FBI around May 24 as part of its work with a Joint Terrorism Task Force.“Based upon this information, (ICE) Hartford began reviewing (Zia’s) immigration status in an effort to determine whether termination of parole and initiation of proceedings to remove (Zia) from the United States was appropriate,” Charpentier said in the filing.Article continues below this adThe filing did not say why ICE and the FBI believe Zia poses a risk to national security or what the specific allegations against him are.ICE did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The FBI declined to comment.In a statement last week, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and USCIS, said Zia “is currently under investigation for a serious criminal allegation.” The department did not respond to follow-up questions.In response, Petersen said last week that she didn’t know what DHS was referring to and that its statement did not make legal sense.Article continues below this ad“Zia’s done everything right,” she said at the time. “He’s followed the rules. He has no criminal history.”The Friday filing said ICE revoked Zia’s humanitarian parole on July 16 and issued him an order of removal, saying he did not possess a valid entry document.The agency issued a letter to Zia on July 24 to notify him it had revoked his parole because “it was determined that neither humanitarian reasons nor the public benefit warrants (Zia’s) continued parole,” the filing said.ICE placed Zia into expedited removal, the filing said.Article continues below this adExpedited removals can take place almost immediately and do not go through the typical lengthy immigration court process.But Friday’s filing said ICE had put Zia’s removal on hold pending an interview with USCIS because he has “claimed a fear of return to his home country.”Such “credible fear” interviews, as they’re called, are a standard part of the asylum process. The filing did not say when the interview was scheduled.A standing order in the case bars ICE from removing Zia from Massachusetts without at least 72 hours of notice to the court.Article continues below this adThe U.S. Department of Justice argued in its filing Friday the court does not have the legal authority to review ICE’s revocation of Zia’s humanitarian parole or its order of expedited removal against him. For that reason, the court should dismiss the case, the filing said.Zia’s visa to enter the United States included approval from the chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to Petersen and records shared with reporters by the veterans group #AfghanEvac, which organized last week’s press conference.In a press release shared with reporters last week, #AfghanEvac said the Taliban had attempted to kidnap Zia while he was in Afghanistan because of his work with U.S. forces. When that failed, the press release said, the Taliban kidnapped Zia’s brother and tortured him instead.Article continues below this ad“If Zia is deported … he faces death,” Petersen told reporters last week. “There’s a certain threat to his life.”July 29, 2025Investigative reporterJoshua Eaton is an investigative reporter at Hearst Connecticut Media Group. Before joining Hearst, he was on investigative and enterprise teams at NBC News, CQ Roll Call and ThinkProgress. His work has also appeared at The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, Kaiser Health News, Al Jazeera America, The Intercept and elsewhere.