Nazarian was ordered released Thursday by a New Mexico federal judge, ruling that his months-long ICE detention violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process. On Friday morning, he was dropped off by two \u201creally kind\u201d ICE agents at Albuquerque International Sunport who shook his hand and wished him good luck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a dream. I don\u2019t believe everything that happened to me and I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m out now,\u201d Nazarian said in a phone call with El Paso Matters from the airport. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m free yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nazarian first came to the United States with his family as a child in 2008, escaping religious persecution in Iran because they are Christians of Armenian descent. His father, who converted to Islam, forced the family back to Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Later, as an adult, Nazarian unsuccessfully sought asylum in Russia. He crossed into the United States unlawfully from Mexico in 2021, requested asylum, and was released on his own recognizance and allowed to remain and work in the United States pending an immigration hearing.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Argam-Nararian-2-e1776464108659-764x1024.jpg\")
Argam Nazarian<\/p>\n
On his way to work repairing air-conditioning units last June \u2013 just after the United States conducted military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities \u2013 he was approached and detained by ICE agents. He had been held without bond since, even after an El Paso immigration judge ordered him released in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very grateful for everyone who helped me,\u201d Nazarian said, noting the Texas Civil Rights Project that challenged his detention through a habeas corpus petition. His immigration case is still pending.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Sara M. Davenport granted the petition Thursday, stating in court documents that ICE used the wrong legal authority to detain him. The government, she wrote, treated Nazarian like someone seeking entry when he had been living in the United States for years.<\/p>\n
Under President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration policy, those apprehended at the border are immediately detained without bond and put on a fast-track removal process. The administration has tried to expand mandatory no-bond detention to immigrants living in the country\u2019s interior \u2013 a practice being challenged in the courts.<\/p>\n
LEARN MORE: El Paso, West Texas federal courts deluged with challenges to immigration detention<\/a><\/p>\n Davenport wrote that Nazarian should have been eligible for a bond hearing.<\/p>\n She ordered Nazarian released within 24 hours \u2013 and barred ICE from detaining him again without a hearing before an immigration judge. She also barred ICE from sending him to a third country unless it first follows constitutionally required legal steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n Davenport said the government failed to justify his continued detention, stating in her ruling that prolonged detention without that process cannot be indefinite and becomes unconstitutional over time.<\/p>\n ICE didn\u2019t immediately return a request for comment Friday. But in an April 9 email response to El Paso Matters about Nazarian\u2019s case, ICE said removal to a third country is \u201cevaluated on a case-by-case basis and that DHS considers all relevant factors before determining removal destinations for individuals subject to removal.\u201d The statement said the Trump administration is using \u201call lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history\u201d just as the president promised.<\/p>\n \u2018No place to go\u2019: Iranian asylum seeker detained in El Paso, New Mexico for months despite release orders<\/a><\/p>\n Nazarian\u2019s case is representative of what is happening nationwide, though the timing of his detention was more unique, said Charlotte Weiss, a staff attorney with the Beyond Border program under the Texas Civil Rights Project.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the individuals are being arrested, detained and then denied the opportunity to have a bond hearing were already ordered released previously by the government and had been establishing a life here in the United States,\u201d she said. She added that many like Nazarian had been determined not to be a flight risk or danger to the community.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is singular and what is more unique about Argam\u2019s case is his identity as an Iranian national,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cAnd as the social and political conflict in Iran continues to escalate, his life is more and more in danger without the opportunity for him to remain in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Nazarian, who flew to Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, will need time to adapt to his \u201cnew old life,\u201d family friend Andy Chalikyan said.<\/p>\n \u201cStrong emotions are always going to be there, because it\u2019s been almost 10 months that he\u2019s been in detention and all the stuff he went through,\u201d Chalikyan said. \u201cIn the beginning it\u2019s going to be kind of hard trying to fit in again with everybody. It\u2019s going to take some time, and I\u2019m sure he will, slowly but surely, you know, start adapting again.\u201d<\/p>\n Through Chalikyan, who helps translate between English and Armenian, Nazarian\u2019s younger brother said he can\u2019t wait to go fishing with him again.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot believe he is being released and coming home,\u201d Argishti Nazarian, 23, said, his voice cracking slightly. \u201cEveryone is happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Argam Nazariam said he couldn\u2019t pinpoint what he wanted to do when he got home \u2013 take a long shower, sleep in a comfortable bed, eat homemade food. He\u2019ll be reuniting with his wife, whom he met and married in Russia, as well as his mother, brother and church community.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to hug everyone, that\u2019s it, that\u2019s all,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to be for me \u2026 I lost my feelings \u2013 I don\u2019t know what to feel.\u201d<\/p>\n The first thing he did when he got to the airport, he said, was buy a charger for his cellphone and a change of clothes. He bought a cold drink and just sat thinking of everything and nothing, he said.<\/p>\n One thing he will do, he said, is continue to pray not just for himself but for the thousands of other detained immigrants who have not been as fortunate to have had a favorable court ruling \u2013 however long it took to get his.<\/p>\n He was detained in Los Angeles on June 23, 2025, and transferred to El Paso. He was held at the ICE tent facility in Northeast for about two weeks, then transferred to the El Paso ICE Processing Center <\/a>off Montana Avenue near the airport. He was moved to the Cibola County Detention Center in New Mexico near Albuquerque on March 10, though it\u2019s unclear why.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Argam-Nararian-e1774982290683-834x1024.jpg\")
Argam Nazarian<\/p>\n