The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have detained the imam of a mosque in Connecticut on an outstanding deportation order, which was issued last year.
The immigration authorities have identified the man as Hafiz Abdul Hannan, who is a native of Pakistan. The imam was taken into custody on Friday at his home in New Haven.
Shawn Neudauer, a spokesperson for ICE said that an immigration judge handed down an order in March last year to deport Hannan.
Neudauer said that "Hannan has a previous federal conviction for committing fraud in his immigration documents,"
"He will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States."
In the website of Masjid Al-Islam, a mosque founded in 1987, Hannan is listed as imam.
The executive director of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relation, Mongi Dhaouadi said that Hannan is a great community leader in the region and is widely beloved.
"Everybody was shocked to see him being arrested only a few hours before the private prayers, a few days before the month of Ramadan, when the community is getting ready for this important holy month," Dhaouadi said. "And so obviously we're concerned about the choosing of the time by the authorities to execute this order."
Hannan was initially detained in Hartford and then transferred to a facility in Boston, according to his family, Dhaouadi said.
According to recent federal reports, ICE arrests are up 40% in the first 100 days of Trump’s administration, compared to the same period last year.
The report also said that at least 75% of those arrested between January 22 and April 29 were convicted criminals.
Donald Trump signed an executive order soon he took over the White House to crack down on illegal immigration with criminals as top most priority. But the immigrant advocacy groups are worried that other undocumented people, who are not criminals may also get swept in dragnets.
The report also noted a “rise in non-criminal arrests over the same period, which increased from approximately in 2016 to more than 10,800 in 2017,” a spike of over 150%.
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