Afghan asylum seeker taken into custody in Bloomington; ICE holding him in Brazil, Indiana jail

On Monday (Dec. 9), a Bloomington resident in his 30s was detained by federal agents after he left the Broadview Learning Center in the area of town southwest of Switchyard Park.

Amir is now being held in the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana, a county jail that contracts with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold immigration detainees. At the request of his family, The B Square is using a pseudonym, Amir, to protect his safety. Amir’s asylum case, based on fear of persecution from the Taliban in Afghanistan, was still pending when he was detained.

Amir’s family here in Bloomington, who are awaiting his fate, include his wife, who is three months pregnant, his mother-in-law, father-in-law, and brother-in-law. Amir’s brother-in-law told The B Square they are working to arrange Amir’s legal representation to appear in front of a judge—and praying.

Amir’s wife has been able to communicate with him through the jail’s contracted communications service, which requires prepaid accounts for phone calls, messaging, and video visitation.

Amir is not a criminal—that’s what his brother-in-law says is the most important thing to understand. He had been following all the rules for his pending asylum case. It’s not clear why he was detained on Monday.

Additional background on the situation was provided to The B Square by Dave Meyer, a longtime volunteer involved in refugee and immigrant support work in Bloomington. Meyer works with the Bloomington Refugee Support Network and with resettlement support groups through First United Church and the Bloomington Rotary Club.

Meyer told The B Square he has been working with Amir since his arrival in the U.S. over the southern border in July 2024. Before that, Rotary Club had been sponsoring Amir’s family members, who were already in Bloomington, through Exodus Refugee Immigration. They arrived in 2022, coming to Indiana by way of Virginia. Amir was not with them at the time.

Amir entered the United States in July 2024 over the border with Mexico through a scheduled appointment arranged via CBP One, a smartphone-based system used to manage arrivals at official ports of entry. He was granted humanitarian parole, a temporary legal permission to be in the country. Parole is commonly issued for one year and allows the recipient to apply for employment authorization. Amir is currently working as a cook at Indiana University, but is an electrical engineer by training.

Meyer said Amir filed an asylum application about five months after entering, which is within the one-year statutory filing deadline. Once a person expresses an intent to seek asylum, they typically receive a Notice to Appear, which initiates removal proceedings in immigration court—a parallel track that runs while the asylum claim is being adjudicated.

While awaiting that process, Meyer said, Amir had been participating in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program, which included wearing a GPS monitoring device. That means once federal authorities decided they wanted to detain Amir, it was straightforward to locate him.

Meyer said the family had not yet received any written explanation from ICE explaining why Amir was taken into custody while his asylum case was pending and while he was still within the authorized period of humanitarian parole. Meyer said the FBI agents conducting the stop did not present a judicial warrant.

Meyer said that once family members confirmed he had been taken into custody, they located him through ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System, which publicly lists where non-citizens are being held. He appeared in the system as detained at the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana. At least four Indiana counties have contracts with ICE to serve as holding facilities: Clark, Clay, Clinton, and Miami counties.

For his understanding of events on Monday, Meyer relied in part on a review of video footage recorded by three cameras installed in Amir’s car—interior, rear dash, and front dash. According to Meyer, on Monday Amir picked up his mother-in-law from Broadview Learning Center, where both of them were taking English-language classes.

Broadview Learning Center is Monroe County Community School Corporation's (MCCSC’s) adult-education facility, which offers GED preparation, English-language classes, and workforce-readiness programs. When The B Square inquired with Monroe County Community School Corporation about possible ICE activity on Monday in connection with Broadview Learning Center, MCCSC officials said that no ICE activity had taken place in MCCSC buildings on their campuses. That’s because Amir was detained in the public right-of-way about a mile from the learning center.

Dash-camera footage, Meyer said, showed an unmarked SUV leaving the Broadview Learning Center lot just after Amir pulled out and following him for roughly a mile, before conducting a stop on a public street.

Meyer said three FBI agents wearing clothing with clearly visible FBI insignia approached the vehicle. The conversation the driver’s side window, he said, focused on Amir’s immigration status. Meyer said agents told the man they needed to take him to Indianapolis to fix some paperwork, and instructed him to step out of the vehicle, and then handcuffed him. Amir’s mother-in-law, who was in the passenger seat, was not detained. Agents gave her a ride home and moved Amir’s vehicle into a nearby apartment complex parking lot, Meyer said.

A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed to The B Square that FBI personnel had been operating in Bloomington on Monday. But that FBI activity was in connection with weapons and drug charges made at three locations, including at Maxwell Terrace Apartments. Asked to confirm any FBI activity on behalf of ICE, the FBI spokesperson directed The B Square to ICE. ICE did not immediately respond to a question from The B Square about any ICE activity in Bloomington on Monday.