An asylum seeker from India alleges he was in the United States legally for three years before being picked up and illegally jailed in Iowa by ICE agents.
In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Charanpreet Singh, 32, is suing the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Singh alleges he entered the United States without authorization in April 2018, was immediately apprehended and then was released by an immigration judge after posting a $17,000 bond.
For the past eight years, Singh alleges, he has remained in the United States, established family ties, maintained employment, complied with all conditions of his release, and obeyed all laws while seeking asylum.
On Oct. 26, 2026, Singh alleges, he was traveling in Iowa as part of his employment as a commercial truck driver when he was pulled over by police and instructed to go to a nearby vehicle weigh station. In Iowa and other states, ICE agents are partnering with state law enforcement officials to interrogate, at the weigh stations, any individuals suspected of being in the United States illegally.
Signh’s lawsuit alleges ICE officers at the weigh station questioned him and that he presented the officers with his driver’s license and his work-authorization papers. Despite that, he alleges, ICE officials detained him and then transported him to the Polk County Jail where he now remains.
The lawsuit claims ICE officers provided no explanation for his arrest and provided him with no opportunity to argue that he was free on a bond that was set by an immigration-court judge.
The lawsuit seeks Singh’s immediate release from the Polk County Jail, as well as a court declaration that ICE violated Singh’s rights and unlawfully detained him. A judge has yet to rule in the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which does not comment on pending cases, has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.
