An 18-year-old Cheshire High School student has been released from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he'd been held since ICE detained him on April 6.MediaNews Group via Getty ImagesA Cheshire High School student has been released after just over two weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, online agency records show.ICE agents arrested Rihan on April 6 while he was riding in a car with his uncle and younger brother, according to court records filed by his attorneys. They took him to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, shortly after his arrest, where ICE's online detainee locator showed him until Tuesday.Article continues below this adRihan's attorneys filed a petition in federal district court asking that a judge require the government to grant him a bond hearing. After some back-and-forth over whether the federal district court in Connecticut or Massachusetts had jurisdiction, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns of Massachusetts ordered the bond hearing. That took place Monday in immigration court in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where Judge Huy Le set Rihan's bond at the $1,500 minimum. Unlike bond in criminal cases, immigration bonds generally have to be paid in cash and in full.More NewsRihan is an 18-year-old senior at Cheshire High School. In court filings and when speaking to the press, his attorneys described him as a straight-A honors student and said he aspires to be a cardiologist. He's set to graduate with the rest of his class in June.“Thank you, everyone, for your support and for helping our family," the family said in a statement Monday after the bond hearing. "We are grateful for the support of Senator (Richard) Blumenthal, Governor (Ned) Lamont, Attorney General (William) Tong, our attorneys, and our Cheshire representatives and community."Article continues below this adStamford Advocate LogoMake us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.Add Preferred SourceAfter Rihan was granted bond on Monday, one of his attorneys, Lauren Petersen, said in a statement that she was "thrilled with this result." Petersen argued on Rihan's behalf during the immigration court hearing Monday.Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has been an outspoken support of both Rihan and his father Zia, a former interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan who spent three months in immigration detention last July."I will continue this fight for Rihan and countless others who are victims of ICE’s reckless and inhumane abuses," the senator said. "I look forward to welcoming Rihan home and celebrating his imminent graduation from Cheshire High School.”Article continues below this adRepresentatives for the family declined to comment Tuesday morning, citing the family's privacy. Attorneys have asked that the press only refer to the family by their first names, citing concerns for their safety and the safety of their relatives who are still in Afghanistan.In a statement Tuesday morning, after Rihan was granted bond, ICE's parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, described Rihan as "an illegal alien" and said, "The facts in this case have not changed.""On April 6, 2026, ICE arrested him on federal immigration violations and issued him a notice to appear before a judge," the agency said. "All his claims will be heard, and he will receive full due process."Rihan's attorneys said in a court filing earlier this month that the ICE agents who arrested him on April 6 were trying to re-arrest Zia. When they discovered Zia was not with them, Rihan said the agents arrested him instead, the filing continued.Article continues below this adZia, his wife and their five children — including Rihan — entered the United States in early October 2024 on a two-year humanitarian parole, court filings show. After ICE arrested Zia, it said in a court filing that it received a tip through the FBI that he may pose "a risk to the national security." The agency did not go into further detail on the nature of that tip. A U.S. district judge and an immigration judge who examined that claim later ordered Zia's release.At the time of Rihan's arrest, he said that agents told him his two-year humanitarian parole expired in October 2025, not October 2026. That may have been due to a paperwork error, Rihan's attorneys said in those filings. However, ICE revoked Rihan's parole after his arrest. In the same hearing Monday where Le granted Rihan bond, he denied Petersen's motion to terminate Rihan's deportation proceedings in immigration court and reinstate his humanitarian parole.Rihan's next appearance in immigration court is scheduled for May 4.Article continues below this adApril 21, 2026Investigative 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.