An Arkansas man who was detained for a month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) after authorities mistook his bottle of perfume for opium is seeking to have his visa status restored after the charges were dropped.
Kapil Raghu, an Indian national married to an American woman and working towards American citizenship, was detained on 3 May after police officers in Benton, a suburb of Little Rock, pulled him over for having a non-moving traffic violation, according to his attorney, Mike Laux.
During the traffic stop, police found a small perfume bottle in his car labeled “Opium” and arrested Raghu for possessing narcotics, even though he told them the bottle contained perfume and the word “opium” referred to the scent. The bodycam video obtained by local network THV11 shows police accusing Raghu of having an illegal substance in his vehicle.
“You got a vial of opium that was in your center console,” an officer told Raghu. “Go and take a seat.”
“I was not doing anything wrong when he pulled me over. I was following all regulations,” said Raghu, who told the Saline Courier that he was making a food delivery when he was stopped.
Ashley Mays, Raghu’s wife, arrived at the scene and said: “I’m confused on why he’s going to jail.”
The Arkansas State Crime Lab concluded that the substance in the bottle was perfume, not opium, but still Raghu spent three days in the Saline county jail, where authorities found an “administrative/legal error” showing his visa status had expired, according to his attorney.
Ice officers took Raghu into custody and sent him to a federal immigration facility in Louisiana, where he was detained for 30 days.
“She used to call me every night,” Raghu told THV11, speaking next to his wife. “Crying, and my stepdaughter putting a Bible on her chest, crying. My stepdaughter was crying a lot. And she [Mays] was planning to sell her cars and move to some other country where we can live happily.”
While the charges against Raghu were officially dropped by a district court judge on 20 May, the Ice detainment put a blip on his journey to becoming a permanent citizen. Mays said in a fundraising page to cover legal fees and basic expenses that Raghu’s work visa was revoked.
“It is my understanding that, though released, Kapil now has a ‘deportation’ status, meaning he can be immediately deported for any minor offense, even jaywalking,” reads a statement sent by Laux. “But, more crucially, this classification bars him from working and earning money for his family, which has been devastating for them.”
Raghu sent a letter to Ice’s legal office this week, explaining his case and asking whether his immigration status could be resolved through proper legal channels.
In the letter, Raghu said that his immigration attorney had “failed to timely file the required paperwork before my visa expired, which left me vulnerable and placed me in my current situation”.
“My wife, who has always been my greatest support, is carrying the entire financial burden alone, as I am currently unable to work,” reads the letter by Raghu. “The mounting legal fees and the pressure of not being able to contribute have created a difficult situation for our family, and it has become increasingly challenging to manage.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Ice, did not immediately provide a comment about Raghu’s case.
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