US ICE releases Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh from custody

What the report says

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh from custody after he was detained on September 24, according to Al Jazeera and a statement from a campaign formed by his friends and relatives. The 42-year-old was freed on bond, and the campaign said his next immigration hearing is scheduled for October 27. Sheikh remains in deportation proceedings, so the case is not over.

Al Jazeera reported that Sheikh was taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security as he arrived at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC, after flying in from California. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and entered the United States on a student visa in 2019 to study film at Georgia State University. The report says he filed for asylum in 2020. The campaign says he has a pending asylum application and was allowed to live and work in the US, while DHS said he had overstayed the terms of his admission and would receive due process.

Sheikh is known for films focused on conflict in Indian-administered Kashmir. His first feature, Saffron Kingdom, received several awards at film festivals in the US and elsewhere, and he was also recognised in 2025 with an emerging filmmaker activist award, according to the report. His detention came amid a broader rise in ICE arrests across the US during the summer, a context Al Jazeera noted while citing Trump administration comments about tightening visa and asylum enforcement.