ICE detains Afghan man who aided US military in Afghanistan - National & International News - WED 18Jun2025 -

ICE detains Afghan man who worked alongside US military in Afghanistan.

Supreme Court upholds Tennessee law banning gender affirming care for minors.

ICE detains Afghan man who worked alongside US military in Afghanistan

Last week, ICE officials detained Sayed Naser, an Afghan man who worked for the US military in Afghanistan, after Naser appeared for a mandatory hearing in San Diego as part of his asylum process. From 2015 to 2018, Naser provided interpretation services for the US military in Afghanistan. He also provided anti-mining services through a logistics company owned by his family. However, when the US withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, Naser was not one of the thousands of Afghan allies airlifted out of the country. This left him and his family vulnerable to retaliation by the Taliban.

At a family wedding in 2023, the Taliban killed Naser’s brother and abducted his father. Naser and his wife and children were forced to flee Afghanistan, seeking safety in neighboring Iran. Naser had to make the difficult decision to leave his wife and children behind while he made his way to Brazil. From there he made the 6,000 mile journey on foot to the US border with Mexico. Along the way, he crossed the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama. He entered the US lawfully in 2024, being granted humanitarian parole. He has applied both for asylum case and the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) granted to foreign nationals who assist the US military. Those cases are ongoing.

Naser has no criminal record, either in the US or Afghanistan.

“Improvidently issued”

When Naser turned up to his mandatory hearing last week, an attorney representing the Department of Homeland Security declared Naser’s case was “‘improvidently issued” without clarifying further. When Naser’s attorney asked the DHS lawyer to explain what he meant by “improvidently issued”, the DHS lawyer responded, “We don’t have to explain why it’s improvident. We just have to make the allegation”. Upon leaving the courtroom, masked ICE agents detained Naser.

“‘Improvidently issued’ is becoming ICE’s new catch-all — a vague, unchallengeable justification being used to clear dockets and meet removal and detention quotas. It’s being weaponized to put lawful, parole-compliant asylum-seekers in cells,” said Shawn VanDiver of AfghanEvac, an advocacy organization that serves foreign nationals who allied with the US during wartime.

VanDiver says this new tactic by the government is part of a “broader pattern” of “quiet policy shifts that make it harder for our allies to get protection”. According to VanDiver, it’s unknown how many Afghan allies ICE has detained.

Naser is being detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. If he is denied asylum, he could be deported. It’s not clear where he would be deported to.

Supreme Court upholds Tennessee law banning gender affirming care for minors

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court has ruled that a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause. Nearly every Republican controlled state has such a law in place, And all of them have drawn numerous court challenges. However, today’s ruling Focused narrowly on the question of providing gender affirming care to minors and it’s potential for discrimination under the 14th Amendment. This leaves the door open for some of these challenges to continue citing other legal bases or those citing state law.

Notably, only three of the conservative justices in the majority said in their opinions that laws targeting transgender people should not be subject to “heightened scrutiny”. Heightened scrutiny applies when a group has a history of suffering discrimination, as in the case of Black people or women. Lower federal courts and appeals courts have been weighing whether heightened scrutiny should apply to laws targeting transgender people. Since the Justices declined to take a decisive stance on this question one way or another, other cases regarding discrimination against transgender people in other settings, such as in schools and college sport programs, may continue moving ahead. Eventually, some of these cases may wind up before the Supreme Court and the justices will have to make a determination one way or anot :her.

Thomas dismisses “expert” opinions

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion that courts should not rely so heavily on the opinions of “so-called experts”, suggesting that there is no medical consensus on the treatments appropriate for gender dysphoria.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) defines gender dysphoria as a “marked incongruence between their experienced or expressed gender and the one they were assigned at birth”. The condition often comes with severe mental and emotional distress, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. It affects less than 1% of the population.

Every relevant medical professional organization, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, has concluded that for many adults and minors suffering from gender dysphoria, gender-affirming care is a medical necessity, and often life-saving.

The Tennessee law and the Court’s decision disregards the opinions of a majority of medical experts. They also disregard the opinions (and limit the options) of thousands of parents who must weigh whether gender-affirming care is necessary for their children’s well-being.

Ruling comes amid increasingly hostile legal, governmental and social environment for transgender people.