It took 298 days.
“Almost 10 months – 10 months,” said 27-year-old Argam Nazarian, an Iranian national who was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement while on his way to work in Los Angeles last summer. He spent most of that time detained in El Paso before being transferred to New Mexico in early March. “Almost a year of my life.”
Nazarian was ordered released Thursday by a New Mexico federal judge, ruling that his months-long ICE detention violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process. On Friday morning, he was dropped off by two “really kind” ICE agents at Albuquerque International Sunport who shook his hand and wished him good luck.
“I feel like I’m in a dream. I don’t believe everything that happened to me and I can’t believe I’m out now,” Nazarian said in a phone call with El Paso Matters from the airport. “I don’t feel like I’m free yet.”
Nazarian first came to the United States with his family as a child in 2008, escaping religious persecution in Iran because they are Christians of Armenian descent. His father, who converted to Islam, forced the family back to Iran.
Later, as an adult, Nazarian unsuccessfully sought asylum in Russia. He crossed into the United States unlawfully from Mexico in 2021, requested asylum, and was released on his own recognizance and allowed to remain and work in the United States pending an immigration hearing.
On his way to work repairing air-conditioning units last June – just after the United States conducted military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities – he was approached and detained by ICE agents. He had been held without bond since, even after an El Paso immigration judge ordered him released in August.
“I’m very grateful for everyone who helped me,” Nazarian said, noting the Texas Civil Rights Project that challenged his detention through a habeas corpus petition. His immigration case is still pending.
U.S. District Judge Sara M. Davenport granted the petition Thursday, stating in court documents that ICE used the wrong legal authority to detain him. The government, she wrote, treated Nazarian like someone seeking entry when he had been living in the United States for years.
Under President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, those apprehended at the border are immediately detained without bond and put on a fast-track removal process. The administration has tried to expand mandatory no-bond detention to immigrants living in the country’s interior – a practice being challenged in the courts.
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Davenport wrote that Nazarian should have been eligible for a bond hearing.
She ordered Nazarian released within 24 hours – and barred ICE from detaining him again without a hearing before an immigration judge. She also barred ICE from sending him to a third country unless it first follows constitutionally required legal steps.
Davenport said the government failed to justify his continued detention, stating in her ruling that prolonged detention without that process cannot be indefinite and becomes unconstitutional over time.
ICE didn’t immediately return a request for comment Friday. But in an April 9 email response to El Paso Matters about Nazarian’s case, ICE said removal to a third country is “evaluated on a case-by-case basis and that DHS considers all relevant factors before determining removal destinations for individuals subject to removal.” The statement said the Trump administration is using “all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history” just as the president promised.
Nazarian’s case is representative of what is happening nationwide, though the timing of his detention was more unique, said Charlotte Weiss, a staff attorney with the Beyond Border program under the Texas Civil Rights Project.
“Many of the individuals are being arrested, detained and then denied the opportunity to have a bond hearing were already ordered released previously by the government and had been establishing a life here in the United States,” she said. She added that many like Nazarian had been determined not to be a flight risk or danger to the community.
“What is singular and what is more unique about Argam’s case is his identity as an Iranian national,” Weiss said. “And as the social and political conflict in Iran continues to escalate, his life is more and more in danger without the opportunity for him to remain in the United States.”
Nazarian, who flew to Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, will need time to adapt to his “new old life,” family friend Andy Chalikyan said.
“Strong emotions are always going to be there, because it’s been almost 10 months that he’s been in detention and all the stuff he went through,” Chalikyan said. “In the beginning it’s going to be kind of hard trying to fit in again with everybody. It’s going to take some time, and I’m sure he will, slowly but surely, you know, start adapting again.”
Through Chalikyan, who helps translate between English and Armenian, Nazarian’s younger brother said he can’t wait to go fishing with him again.
“I cannot believe he is being released and coming home,” Argishti Nazarian, 23, said, his voice cracking slightly. “Everyone is happy.”
Argam Nazariam said he couldn’t pinpoint what he wanted to do when he got home – take a long shower, sleep in a comfortable bed, eat homemade food. He’ll be reuniting with his wife, whom he met and married in Russia, as well as his mother, brother and church community.
“I just want to hug everyone, that’s it, that’s all,” he said. “I don’t know how it’s going to be for me … I lost my feelings – I don’t know what to feel.”
The first thing he did when he got to the airport, he said, was buy a charger for his cellphone and a change of clothes. He bought a cold drink and just sat thinking of everything and nothing, he said.
One thing he will do, he said, is continue to pray not just for himself but for the thousands of other detained immigrants who have not been as fortunate to have had a favorable court ruling – however long it took to get his.
He was detained in Los Angeles on June 23, 2025, and transferred to El Paso. He was held at the ICE tent facility in Northeast for about two weeks, then transferred to the El Paso ICE Processing Center off Montana Avenue near the airport. He was moved to the Cibola County Detention Center in New Mexico near Albuquerque on March 10, though it’s unclear why.
Immigration detainees in Texas face stricter limits on release than those in New Mexico, largely due to different federal court rulings. In February, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, upheld mandatory detention without bond, while the 10th Circuit, which includes New Mexico, has previously ruled that such detention is unlawful.
Outside of the immigration and judicial systems, Nazarian believes there might have been a “higher power” involved in his release.
For months while in detention, Nazarian had wanted an Armenian Bible. He finally requested one and Weiss, his attorney, secured one for him in March. Because it was hardbound, ICE officers had to remove its cover. Still, it brought him peace, he said.
“And after two days, everything just changed. I was transferred to (New Mexico). Everything just changed, finally started moving,” he said. “I was always a believer. I believe in my God. But after all of this happened, my belief grew stronger.”
The post 298 days: Iranian asylum seeker released after judge rules ICE violated his rights appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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