\u201cI don\u2019t have any place to go,\u201d Nazarian, 27, told El Paso Matters by phone from the El Paso ICE Processing Center last month as the war in Iran intensified. \u201cI just want to be where I can be free.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texas Civil Rights Project<\/a> is challenging Nazarian\u2019s detention, claiming he\u2019s being\u00a0 unlawfully detained without bond. The government has twice ordered Nazarian released because he presents neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, court records show, including when he was released on his own recognizance after the entered the country without inspection. He has no criminal convictions on record.<\/p>\n His first habeas corpus petition \u2013 a lawsuit challenging the legality of his detention \u2013 was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower of the Western District of Texas on March 23 after his transfer.\u00a0<\/p>\n His attorneys filed an emergency petition for writ of habeas corpus in New Mexico on March 24. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Sara M. Davenport, who on March 26 gave the government until April 9 to respond as to why he should not be released. Davenport also ordered that Nazarian cannot be transferred out of the district while the case is pending.<\/p>\n He\u2019s under an order of removal, but remains in active asylum proceedings.<\/p>\n Neither DHS nor ICE responded to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n EL PASO ICE DETENTION CENTERS: Read El Paso Matters\u2019 coverage of ICE detention centers in El Paso<\/a><\/p>\n Immigration detainees in Texas face harsher release restrictions than in New Mexico, largely because the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that covers Texas upheld mandatory detention without bond in February. New Mexico is under the 10th Circuit, which has previously ruled mandatory detention is illegal.<\/p>\n In a second victory for the federal government, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals last week overturned a lower court ruling that argued the practice of detention without bond is illegal, the Associated Press<\/a> reported. That court covers Midwestern states, including Minnesota.<\/p>\n \u201cArgam came to the U.S. to seek safety and seek freedom and he doesn\u2019t understand why he\u2019s behind bars,\u201d said Charlotte Weiss, a staff attorney with the Beyond Border program under the Texas Civil Rights Project. She said Nazarian\u2019s injured knee is in dire need of medical attention.<\/p>\n Coming to the United States<\/p>\n Nazarian first came to the United States as a refugee in 2008 when he was a child, brought over from Iran by his father and mother along with his younger brother \u2013 all escaping persecution, he said. His father, who had converted to Islam, forcefully took the family back to Iran in 2009, said Nazarian, who retained his Christian faith.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. was colorful, beautiful,\u201d he said. \u201cI was crying not to go back to Iran. After we go over there, everything is black and white. There\u2019s no color, no life.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking to again escape Iran and seek asylum elsewhere, Nazarian left for Armenia, then Russia, where he met his wife, a native of that country. <\/p>\n He was denied asylum in Russia, so he and his wife went to Ukraine then to Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n In August 2021, they entered the United States unlawfully through Arizona, where they were detained by immigration agents. They were released with a notice to appear in immigration court.<\/p>\n They settled in Los Angeles, living with his Nazarian\u2019s brother and mother, and joined a close-knit community of Armenian Christians. Nazarian served as a caretaker for his mother, who has several chronic health conditions and an autoimmune disorder.\u00a0<\/p>\n He filed an application for asylum in April 2025, which was denied. He filed an appeal, which remains pending.<\/p>\n FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Trump administration says it\u2019s targeting criminals for deportation. ICE arrested these 2 Las Cruces teens as they headed to work.<\/a><\/p>\n Nazarian says he fears for his life if he were to be deported to Iran. Just as scary, he said, is losing his family, including his wife, who is living in Los Angeles and has a pending asylum claim.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to lose my family if I get deported. I\u2019ve lost everything else, working four years, legally, I paid taxes,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He worked as a delivery driver then in air conditioning, he said, helping support not just his wife but his mother in California. He hasn\u2019t seen his father in 10 years, and isn\u2019t sure about his whereabouts.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to lose my family, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Time in detention<\/p>\n On the morning of June 23, 2025, Nazarian was walking to his car readying to go to work when he saw several individuals wearing hats and face coverings approach him. The individuals, Nazarian said, did not identify themselves as law enforcement or show any badges. He was placed in handcuffs and put into one of their vehicles.<\/p>\n He was transported to a federal building in Los Angeles, where he spent a handful of days before being put on a bus and sent to Arizona. From there, he was flown to El Paso.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Los Angeles, he said, detainees were not provided clean clothes, blankets or showers. More than 80 people crowded into small holding spaces with very little water and food. Without any windows, he was unclear on time, not recalling exactly how many days he spent there, he said.<\/p>\n In El Paso, he spent about 14 days in the tent camp in Northeast, where he said he wasn\u2019t allowed to shower for several days and wasn\u2019t provided clean clothes.<\/p>\n Worst of all, he said, he wasn\u2019t allowed to make phone calls. <\/p>\n He was sent to the processing center near El Paso International Airport.<\/p>\n FROM THE ARCHIVES: El Paso ICE processing center detainees face \u2018widespread human rights violations,\u2019 Amnesty International report finds<\/a><\/p>\n More than a month after being detained, on Aug. 6, 2025, El Paso immigration Judge Michael S. Pleters ordered him released on bond, writing in his orders that Nazarian had proven \u201cby a preponderance of the evidence that he does not pose either a danger to the community or a flight risk if released on bond.\u201d<\/p>\n The federal government refused to release him, arguing in court that federal immigration law requires his detention without the possibility of release because he entered the U.S. without inspection. Therefore, the government argued, he is classified as an \u201capplicant for admission\u201d \u2013 a category it says must be held in custody during removal proceedings, even if an immigration judge finds he is not a flight risk or a danger and orders him released on bond.<\/p>\n Habeas corpus challenge detention<\/p>\n Nazarian\u2019s habeas corpus petition in the Western District of Texas, which stretches from El Paso to Austin, was among the more than 1,000 filed in that district by immigrants detained by ICE since last summer.<\/p>\n LEARN MORE: El Paso, West Texas federal courts deluged with challenges to immigration detention<\/a><\/p>\n The majority of the petitions argue that the detainee has been unlawfully denied their right to seek a bond to get released from immigration detention.<\/p>\n Four federal judges in El Paso are handling the petitions, with an El Paso Matters analysis showing that three of them generally give the government a short window to respond to a show cause order \u2013 demonstrating why the petitioner should continue to be detained.<\/p>\n The fourth judge \u2013 Schydlower, appointed in 2024 by President Joe Biden \u2013 gives the government more time to respond and takes a much slower approach to his case load, the analysis shows. He has granted few if any habeas corpus petitions to detained immigrants, while his El Paso colleagues have granted petitions in the majority of cases they\u2019ve handled.<\/p>\n Much of the backlog of petitions in Texas comes from a Board of Immigration Appeals ruling in September deciding that any person who crossed the border unlawfully and is later taken into immigration detention is no longer eligible for release on bond \u2013 reversing a longstanding precedent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nazarian\u2019s attorneys argue that the government is misapplying the law, and that because he has been living in the United States for years while pursuing his asylum case, he should be held under a different statute that allows release on bond. His continued detention, despite a judge finding he\u2019s not a flight risk or danger, is unlawful and unconstitutional, they argued.<\/p>\n Nazarian\u2019s knee has worsened, with doctors who examined him at the El Paso Processing Center noting the injury has resulted in ACL \u201cdestruction with recurrent knee dislocation and bleeding at the joint,\u201d according to court documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Finding a new home<\/p>\n For Nazarian, the United States represented more than opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t come for a job, but for safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The persecution of Christians in Iran has surged in intensity and brutality in recent years, according to a 2025 report by the Center for Human Rights in Iran.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Argam-Nararian-2-e1774982246603-1024x959.jpg\")
Argam Nazarian<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/El-Paso-ICE-3-scaled-1.jpg\")
El Paso ICE Processing Center on Montana Avenue near El Paso International Airport. (Robert Moore\/ El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Albert-Armendariz-courthouse-12-2025.jpg\")
The Albert Armendariz Sr. United States Courthouse in Downtown El Paso, Dec. 15, 2025. (Robert Moore\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n