SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — An Afghan family of five who was traveling to Washington state on special visas and were detained by immigration officials at the Los Angeles airport will be released Monday, one of their lawyers said.
The mother, father and their three young sons, including a baby, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday for a connecting flight to Washington, where they planned to resettle. Instead, they were detained by U.S. immigration officials.
A refugee agency had chosen the Tri-Cities area, where the family has a friend, for the family to resettle, said Caitlin Bellis, an attorney representing the family for the public-interest law firm Public Counsel.
Over the weekend, a federal judge issued a temporary order blocking federal authorities from removing the family from California and calling for a hearing Monday afternoon on their case.
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Bellis said attorneys still did not know why the family had been detained.
The father worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan and was able to obtain special immigrant visas for his family.
After being stopped at the airport, he was held at a detention center. His wife and young sons were detained at a hotel, lawyers said.
“It’s important that people understand that this is a family where they literally put their lives in danger to serve the U.S. government abroad and their welcome was a 30-plus hour detention,” Bellis said. “We cannot comprehend it, but it’s almost certainly unfounded and illegal.”
Talia Inlender, another senior staff attorney for Public Counsel, said immigration authorities agreed to release the family from custody Monday. The family will be allowed to remain in the country subject to an immigration review at a later time, said Inlender, one of a team of lawyers representing the family.
Messages seeking comment were left for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice.
The family’s names have not been released.