Iranian asylum seeker released from ICE detention in El Paso
By Alyssa Munoz
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EL PASO, Texas (KOAT) — Melika Olya, an Iranian asylum seeker who fled to the U.S. fearing persecution, has been released from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in El Paso, Texas, after nearly three years in custody.
Olya said she fled to the United States in January 2022 after protesting against mandatory hijab laws, crossing the southern border in El Paso with her father.
Zoe Bowman, Olya’s attorney from the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, said her case was denied by a judge, ordering her to be removed.
“We believe that’s on credibility grounds. So maybe because she was detained, she wasn’t able to get enough proof from Iran about what happened to her. And the judge decided that they didn’t believe the story,” Bowman said.
Bowman explained that while deportation can happen quickly for many, it is particularly difficult for individuals from countries like Iran.
“For people from some countries like Iran, it’s very, very difficult for the United States to remove people there. There was the first deportation flight to Iran in years this past October,” she said.
Olya spent nearly three years in the El Paso Processing Center, which Bowman said is against the Immigration and Nationality Act and a Supreme Court case called Zadvydas v. Davis.
“After six months of being detained after a removal order, the detention becomes presumptively unreasonable. So, ICE can still make the case that, oh, we’re about to deport this person or send them on a flight. But at that point, detention becomes unreasonable. So that’s why we filed a habeas corpus petition on her behalf in federal court,” Bowman said.
Ultimately, a judge agreed with Bowman, ordering ICE to release Olya if she wasn’t deported by Nov. 14. She is now out of custody and living in the United States.
“Like a lot of other Iranians in her position, she has an ankle monitor. She’s being tracked by ICE. She’ll have regular check-ins with ICE. And that can really continue indefinitely,” Bowman said.
ICE officials with the El Paso sector told KOAT they are looking into her case.
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