WA congressional candidate’s husband, a military veteran, taken into ICE custody

The husband of a candidate for Congress in Washington, who is also a veteran, was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Thursday.

Melissa Chaudhry is running for Congress in Washington’s 9th District and is married to Pakistani native Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry. The couple thought Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry was taking a step toward citizenship when he arrived for an interview at an immigration office in Tukwila. Instead, he was detained by ICE.

“We saw faithlessness and we saw betrayal, when we came in good faith, with open hands and put ourselves into their power,” Melissa Chaudhry told KIRO Newsradio. “And now my family is torn in pieces, and my soul is shredded, and I have to explain this to our two little children who don’t know what happened to their Baba.”

Melissa Chaudhry said her husband is a disabled U.S. military veteran who has lived in the country for 25 years.

“They waited an hour before they told us, according to what I spoke with him when he was in the detention center, and they have given us no explanation as to why,” Melissa Chaudhry said.