Chaudhry was ordered deported in 2011 after his fraud history came to light, yet he has successfully delayed removal for more than 14 years through legal appeals.
minute read
A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, a Pakistani national and convicted fraudster who has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma since August, the latest incident in a decades-long immigration case that has been repeatedly mischaracterized by activists and sympathetic media outlets.
Chaudhry was taken into custody on August 21 at the Tukwila office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services immediately after completing a scheduled naturalization interview. His arrest triggered an outpouring of activist outrage, with left-wing groups and local media portraying him as an innocent victim of immigration enforcement.
But the court’s ruling makes clear that this was not a determination on the merits of Chaudhry’s immigration case, nor a declaration of innocence. US District Chief Judge David G. Estudillo, a Biden appointee confirmed in 2021, granted Chaudhry’s habeas corpus petition on narrow procedural grounds. Estudillo ruled that ICE unlawfully detained Chaudhry due to “the lack of process that was provided (to) detaining him in the first instance.” Under the order, Chaudhry will be released and allowed to return home while his immigration proceedings continue. Estudillo explicitly stated that immigration authorities may re-detain Chaudhry if they provide written notice and “an appropriate opportunity to respond.”
During oral arguments, Assistant US Attorney Michelle Lambert conceded that under prior district rulings, Chaudhry should have been notified in advance of his arrest and given the chance to challenge the basis for detention.
What continues to go largely unreported is Chaudhry’s extensive and well-documented history of fraud. Court records show that in 1996, while living in Sydney, Australia, Chaudhry was convicted of multiple fraud charges after impersonating another man using a stolen passport to obtain a Medicare card, state identification, and a bank account. He also used a stolen American Express card more than two dozen times.
After those convictions, Chaudhry attempted to re-enter Australia in 2000 using a fraudulent passport before eventually entering the United States on a tourist visa and settling in Yakima, Washington. Within months, he married a US-born woman who filed a visa petition on his behalf. On his immigration paperwork, Chaudhry falsely claimed he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime. Records indicate Chaudhry later applied for positions with both the Yakima Police Department and the Washington Army National Guard, again submitting false information about his criminal past. While he later claimed veteran status, he never deployed overseas. His National Guard unit was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, but Chaudhry reported a back injury during training before deployment.
That same year, immigration officials moved to rescind his permanent resident status, but mistakenly dropped the case after believing he was serving overseas.
Chaudhry was ordered deported in 2011 after his fraud history came to light, yet he has successfully delayed removal for more than 14 years through legal appeals. A federal court ruled against his naturalization bid in 2013, and his case remains before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Despite this, activist groups continue to cast him as a helpless victim. The Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial, the largest terror financing trial in US history, called Chaudhry’s detention a “grave injustice.”
Chaudhry’s wife, Melissa Chaudhry, a 2024 congressional candidate in Washington’s 9th District, has also helped elevate the case politically. Her campaign focused almost exclusively on anti-Israel activism, including support for the violent Gaza encampment at the University of Washington, and she was endorsed by some of the most openly antisemitic voices in Washington politics.
Activists, social-media influencers, and Seattle media immediately declared the ruling a victory.
Chaudhry was taken into custody on August 21 at the Tukwila office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services immediately after completing a scheduled naturalization interview. His arrest triggered an outpouring of activist outrage, with left-wing groups and local media portraying him as an innocent victim of immigration enforcement.
But the court’s ruling makes clear that this was not a determination on the merits of Chaudhry’s immigration case, nor a declaration of innocence. US District Chief Judge David G. Estudillo, a Biden appointee confirmed in 2021, granted Chaudhry’s habeas corpus petition on narrow procedural grounds. Estudillo ruled that ICE unlawfully detained Chaudhry due to “the lack of process that was provided (to) detaining him in the first instance.” Under the order, Chaudhry will be released and allowed to return home while his immigration proceedings continue. Estudillo explicitly stated that immigration authorities may re-detain Chaudhry if they provide written notice and “an appropriate opportunity to respond.”
During oral arguments, Assistant US Attorney Michelle Lambert conceded that under prior district rulings, Chaudhry should have been notified in advance of his arrest and given the chance to challenge the basis for detention.
What continues to go largely unreported is Chaudhry’s extensive and well-documented history of fraud. Court records show that in 1996, while living in Sydney, Australia, Chaudhry was convicted of multiple fraud charges after impersonating another man using a stolen passport to obtain a Medicare card, state identification, and a bank account. He also used a stolen American Express card more than two dozen times.
After those convictions, Chaudhry attempted to re-enter Australia in 2000 using a fraudulent passport before eventually entering the United States on a tourist visa and settling in Yakima, Washington. Within months, he married a US-born woman who filed a visa petition on his behalf. On his immigration paperwork, Chaudhry falsely claimed he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime. Records indicate Chaudhry later applied for positions with both the Yakima Police Department and the Washington Army National Guard, again submitting false information about his criminal past. While he later claimed veteran status, he never deployed overseas. His National Guard unit was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, but Chaudhry reported a back injury during training before deployment.
That same year, immigration officials moved to rescind his permanent resident status, but mistakenly dropped the case after believing he was serving overseas.
Chaudhry was ordered deported in 2011 after his fraud history came to light, yet he has successfully delayed removal for more than 14 years through legal appeals. A federal court ruled against his naturalization bid in 2013, and his case remains before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Despite this, activist groups continue to cast him as a helpless victim. The Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial, the largest terror financing trial in US history, called Chaudhry’s detention a “grave injustice.”
Chaudhry’s wife, Melissa Chaudhry, a 2024 congressional candidate in Washington’s 9th District, has also helped elevate the case politically. Her campaign focused almost exclusively on anti-Israel activism, including support for the violent Gaza encampment at the University of Washington, and she was endorsed by some of the most openly antisemitic voices in Washington politics.
Activists, social-media influencers, and Seattle media immediately declared the ruling a victory.
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