Advocates decry detention of Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh by ICE in US

Arfat Sheikh was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport on September 24, advocacy group says.

Supporters of Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh have called for his immediate release after he was arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last month.

“Sheikh was unlawfully detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Washington Dulles International Airport on September 24, 2026,” the Free Arfat Sheikh campaign, an advocacy group, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old artist, who resides in Alexandria, Virginia, arrived in the US on a student visa in 2019 to pursue graduate studies in film at Georgia State University and sought asylum in 2020, the campaign said.

Sheikh is being held in the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia, it added.

The filmmaker was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge on Tuesday for a procedural hearing alongside a bond assessment, the press release said.

There has been no comment regarding the detention from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.

Sheikh’s first feature film Saffron Kingdom garnered multiple honours, notably Best Feature Film at the Chicago Filmmakers Awards, LA Film and Documentary Awards, Melbourne Independent Film Festival, Wake Forest Film Festival, and Anatolian International Film Awards, the advocacy campaign noted.

In 2025, Sheikh was also recognised with the Emerging Filmmaker Activist Award at the Teaneck International Film Festival.

Sheikh’s detention comes as the number of ICE arrests across the US hit record levels this summer, with about 50,000 arrests recorded in July and August.