Filmmaker and GSU grad detained by ICE speaks out

Arfat Sheikh, the filmmaker and Georgia State University grad who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers while getting off a plane on Sept. 26, has released a statement about his experience. The Kashmiri-born filmmaker was taken by ICE agents when he was getting off a plane at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. while on his way to an arts panel. Sheikh is best known for directing the film “Saffron Kingdom,” which was filmed in Georgia. He lives in Alexandria, VA. “Saffron Kingdom” tells the story of a Kashmiri woman and her family dealing with the abduction of her husband amid political unrest in Kashmir. The film is based in part on Sheikh’s life – his father, the singer Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, disappeared while traveling in 2003. “For a moment, I felt as though history was repeating itself. My father, Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, was disappeared while traveling to Delhi. And here I was, all these years later, being taken away by men in plain clothes as I stepped off a plane in the United States,” Sheikh said in his statement. “My mother already lived through the disappearance of her husband. I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would do to her to hear that her son had been taken away too. And my sisters, who had also lived through our father’s disappearance, would now have to deal with this all over again.” In his statement, Sheikh talks about the conditions he experienced while in ICE detention. According to a press release, Sheikh was transported to a holding facility in Chantilly, Virginia, and later held in the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, VA. “I was not shown a warrant. I was handcuffed, taken away from the airport, and transported to an ICE holding facility in Chantilly, Virginia. My belongings were taken from me, including my jacket and shoelaces. I was placed alone inside a freezing concrete cell with splatters of blood on the floor,” Sheikh said in his statement. Sheikh called on Congress to abolish ICE and end unlawful detentions. “I have been released, but a part of me remains inside Caroline Detention Facility, with the men I came to know, the stories they shared, and the dreams they still carry,” he said. “I want us to remember the people who are still inside.” Representatives for ICE did not respond to questions about the conditions Sheikh spoke of or why he was detained. Sheikh’s immigration hearing was originally scheduled for Oct. 27, but has been postponed until Dec. 4.