This story was originally posted to MyNorthwest.com
The husband of a candidate for Congress in Washington, who is also a veteran, was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Thursday.
Melissa Chaudhry is running for Congress in Washington’s 9th District and is married to Pakistani native Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry. The couple thought Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry was taking a step toward citizenship when he arrived for an interview at an immigration office in Tukwila. Instead, he was detained by ICE.
“We saw faithlessness and we saw betrayal, when we came in good faith, with open hands and put ourselves into their power,” Melissa Chaudhry told KIRO Newsradio. “And now my family is torn in pieces, and my soul is shredded, and I have to explain this to our two little children who don’t know what happened to their Baba.”
Melissa Chaudhry said her husband is a disabled U.S. military veteran who has lived in the country for 25 years.
“They waited an hour before they told us, according to what I spoke with him when he was in the detention center, and they have given us no explanation as to why,” Melissa Chaudhry said.
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry connected to multiple fraud cases
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry was allegedly involved in two incidents where he made misrepresentations to government officials after he came to America in 2000, The Olympian reported.
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry was a taxi driver in Australia in 1996 when one of his customers didn’t have money for their fare and left their passport as a promise to return with cash. Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry allegedly used the passport to try to open a bank account and obtain medical benefits, according to court records obtained by The Olympian.
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry also used a credit card that wasn’t his, Australian police reported.
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry was subsequently criminally convicted, but did not mention it in his 2001 visa application, according to The Olympian. Melissa Chaudhry said the conviction was the equivalent of a parking ticket.
“It’s far beyond the look back period for good moral character, and when it comes to naturalization, especially for veterans,” she said.
She had no comment on the claim that he lied on a U.S. visa application in 2001.
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry also allegedly misrepresented his citizenship in an application to become a reserve officer at the Yakima Police Department. He did serve in the National Guard.
“This should have resulted in him being finally granted the naturalization he earned as a disabled, decorated, honorably discharged American veteran from 20 years ago, but ICE had other plans,” Melissa Chaudhry said.
She doesn’t know what will happen next.
“I don’t know right now when, if ever, I will see my husband again, or on what continents or in what decade, everything is a possibility right now,” Melissa Chaudhry shared.
She said she plans to file what she can so that ICE will tell her why her husband was detained and secure his release.
The couple has a two-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old son.
Contributing: Heather Bosch, Aaron Granillo, KIRO Newsradio; Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest
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