On September 5, Enayetullah Walizada, a commercial semitruck driver from Afghanistan, picked up a load of cookies in New Hampshire and plugged his destination — Union, Calif. — into Google Maps.
He soon found himself approaching the international border near Derby Line, Vt., realizing too late that his route was taking him through Canada. The snafu may cost him his shot at a life in the U.S.
When Canadian border officials turned Walizada back, he had to pass through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint. Despite his pending asylum case and valid work permit, border agents detained him, claiming his legal status in the country had expired days earlier. He is now being held at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, fighting deportation.
Walizada is not the first Afghan trucker to be ensnared in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown at the Vermont-Canada border.
In June, another Afghan semitruck driver transporting Vermont coffee made a wrong turn while following directions from Google Maps and approached the border. Though the driver had been granted asylum in the U.S. in 2023, border officials detained him.
He was held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in a Vermont prison for 10 days and was released after pressure from the Vermont Afghan Alliance and several attorneys. The government never filed any charges in immigration court to justify his detention, his lawyer said.
“The trend we’re seeing with Afghan truck drivers who are working to get American goods from point A to point B is deeply concerning,” said Molly Gray, executive director of the Vermont Afghan Alliance. “In this case, these truck drivers are lawfully in the United States. They often supported U.S. military and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan and are working to rebuild their lives here.”
Many Afghans whose wives and children remain abroad have chosen to work as truck drivers in part because the main downside of the job — long stretches of time away from home and family — is already their reality, said Gabriel Espinal, Walizada’s immigration attorney.
“In this case, that led to this really unpredictable and almost absurd situation, where through a completely honest, innocent mistake of just taking a wrong turn, all the sudden he wound up in detention, where he’s been for weeks now, at a literal prison, as if he committed some type of crime,” Espinal said.
Walizada, 29, came to the U.S. in August 2021 and was granted humanitarian parole through Operation Allies Refuge, a program that evacuated Afghan allies during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops. He applied for asylum in 2022 and has been awaiting the government’s decision on his case. He lives with relatives in Oregon, but his wife and children remain in Afghanistan.
“It’s been a really long and painful four years,” Espinal said. “While he’s been waiting for his asylum decision, he’s made a provisional life in the U.S., all with the goal of reuniting with his wife and kids.”
After Walizada drove his truck up to the border, Customs and Border Protection agents detained him at the port of entry for six days before he was transferred to the state prison in St. Albans, according to court records.
Espinal attempted to contact him in detention but was rebuffed by immigration officials for days.
“We’re seeing systematic efforts by CBP and ICE to prevent access to legal counsel both at the border and in ICE facilities run by the Vermont Department of Corrections,” said Gray of the Afghan Alliance.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment.
The government is arguing that Walizada’s humanitarian parole — a temporary status granted during the Biden administration to give Afghans time to apply for asylum — had expired days before he approached the border, leaving him without legal status in the country. Customs and Border Protection agents then had him sign a Notice to Appear, the first step in starting deportation proceedings.
Walizada’s attorney said he has a strong asylum claim that he expects will be approved. But the timeline for receiving a decision from the government is impossible to predict, and Walizada has already been waiting several years.
“He’s been doing everything the government has asked him to do for his asylum case,” Espinal said. “He’s gone through the whole process and is just waiting for a decision.”
On September 16, Nathan Virag, an immigration lawyer at the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, filed a habeas petition for Walizada in federal court, arguing that his detention is unjustified and requesting that a federal judge grant his release.
An oral argument hearing is scheduled for October 7. A separate hearing on Walizada’s deportation proceedings, called a “master hearing,” is scheduled for two days later before an immigration judge.
“It’s so unheard of. Like, what’s going to happen at the master hearing?” Virag said. “We’ll say, ‘Your honor, he’s already applied for asylum and has been waiting for a decision for a year and a half. He’s just waiting for a decision from the government.’”