Local papers are reporting that Ali Faqirzada, a New Paltz resident and Bard College student who has been held by ICE since October 2025, was freed several weeks ago. Faqirzada, his parents, and siblings, fled Afghanistan in 2022 due to threats from the Taliban due to their human rights activism, as well as work for the former government of Afghanistan.
Anwen Hughes, senior director of legal strategy for refugee programs at Human Rights First, which represented Faqirzada, told the Times Union, “We were greatly relieved at Ali’s release and are deeply grateful to everyone — his fellow students and teachers and administrators at Bard, his Hudson Valley community, religious leaders and elected representatives both state and federal and Republican and Democratic — who advocated for him to be allowed to return to his family and resume his life.”
Read coverage from the Daily Freeman and the Times Union. Photo: Aaron Schock for the Daily Freeman.
