ICE Arrested Him at a Military Base With a Valid Work Permit

You are dropping off passengers at a military base. A guard scans your driver's license, steps away, and comes back with two ICE agents. Minutes later, you are in handcuffs — wrists and ankles chained together — being loaded into a van. That is what Assim Alkhawaja says happened to him in February at Camp Pendleton, the large Marine Corps base in San Diego County. He had a valid work permit. He had a pending asylum case. He had no criminal convictions. None of it stopped his arrest.

A Legal Grey Area That Can Trap Anyone

Alkhawaja, originally from Saudi Arabia, applied for asylum in 2024. While his case was pending, he received a work permit — a Form I-765 (Employment Authorization Document) — which is standard for asylum seekers. He also built a small coffee business called Sands Coffee Roasters in San Diego. His attorney, Sydney Johnson of a San Diego immigration law firm, says he has no criminal convictions on his record. But his work permit, it turns out, does not equal legal immigration status. "You can do everything right and you can still get screwed," Johnson said. That gap in the law is what allowed ICE to arrest Alkhawaja and place him in removal proceedings — the formal process that can end in deportation.

After his arrest, Alkhawaja spent eight days at the Otay Mesa detention center, one of California's largest immigration detention facilities. He was given a uniform with "DETAINEE" printed on the back. He says detainees could not use the restroom at night, the drinking water smelled bad, and basic necessities cost money. When he was released, ICE strapped a GPS ankle monitor to his left leg — the kind typically used for high-risk individuals on parole. He now reports to immigration officials nearly every week, either at the San Diego federal courthouse or through home visits. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called him "a criminal illegal alien" and cited a 2002 arrest. Johnson confirmed that arrest never resulted in any conviction or charges.

San Diego's Quiet Enforcement Wave

Alkhawaja's case is not isolated. ICE removed more than 16,000 people from the San Diego region between January 2025 and April 2026. Arrests have happened outside courthouses, at Home Depot stores, near schools, and at military bases. Camp Pendleton launched a formal "security initiative" with ICE in 2025 focused on identity verification at the base entrance — the same process that flagged Alkhawaja. Johnson says the tactics shift, but the goal stays the same: make people feel it is not worth fighting their case. "The tactics change, but the goal is the same — to make it harder for people to want to fight their case here, and to make them just give up," she said.

What to Do

• Always carry copies of your work permit (EAD), asylum receipt notice, and any other immigration documents — but understand that having them does not prevent an ICE arrest.
• Before any ICE check-in appointment, tell your attorney the date and time. Set up an emergency contact plan with a trusted person who knows what to do if you are detained.
• If ICE offers you money to leave the country voluntarily, do not sign anything before speaking to an immigration lawyer. Voluntary departure can affect your ability to return to the US.
• If you have any past arrests — even ones that did not lead to charges or convictions — tell your attorney now. Agencies can raise old arrests in immigration proceedings, and your lawyer needs to be prepared.

A full breakdown of this topic — in our guide “Appealing to the BIA”.