Detentions and disappearances: how ICE has driven fear into Michigan's Arab communities

"Lorenda Lewis is so tired she can barely keep her head straight. Surrounded by her six young children at a cafe in Dearborn, Michigan, she recounts the nightmare of the past four months that saw her husband, Abdelouahid Aouchiche, an Algerian national, taken away. It was still dark when, at about 5.15am last October, her 61-year-old husband and 12-year-old son, Abdullah, arrived at the Furqan mosque for morning prayers. Abdullah recalls his father being approached by two men outside the mosque, grabbing him and asking for his papers. After a brief conversation, he says he was allowed to call his mother and told to go inside the mosque by the agents."

"On October 6, 2025, ICE arrested Abdelouahid Aouchiche, a criminal illegal alien from Algeria convicted of vehicular manslaughter and precisely arrested for domestic violence. This criminal was issued a final order of removal by a judge in 2008, a statement attributed to the Department of Homeland Security's Tricia McLaughlin and shared with the Guardian said. He has received full due process. He entered the US in 1994 on a B2 tourist visa that allowed him to remain in the US for six months. He overstayed his visa and never departed."

Lorenda Lewis struggles to care for six children after her husband, Abdelouahid Aouchiche, was taken by agents outside the Furqan mosque early one morning. Their son Abdullah witnessed agents confront and briefly detain his father, then was allowed to call his mother while agents left with Aouchiche. Aouchiche was held at the North Lake processing center in Baldwin, Michigan, and is scheduled for deportation to Algeria this weekend. His wife reports uncertainty and fears over finances and family hardship. Lawyers contend deportation would violate immigration law because two appeals remain pending before the Department of Justice board of immigration appeals. Department of Homeland Security officials describe Aouchiche as a criminal who overstayed a B2 visa and received a final removal order in 2008.

Read at www.theguardian.com