A 32-year-old Hindu man from Haryana, India, fled to the United States in 2019 after being attacked by political opponents for his family's support of a rival party, and was found to have a credible fear of persecution. He lived openly in Sacramento and then Stockton, California for nearly seven years after being released on bond, obtaining a work permit, a California driver's license, and supporting himself through lawful employment while his asylum case remained pending with a hearing scheduled for November 2026. On October 1, 2026, while visiting a friend in Fontana, California, ICE officers looking for someone else stopped him, checked his documents, and detained him, telling him only that they could not find information about his case online. He was taken to a San Bernardino ICE office and then to the Desert View Annex detention facility in Adelanto, where an officer offered him $3,000 to accept voluntary departure, which he refused. A federal judge granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding the government had not opposed the petition for release.