A 28-year-old Rwandan asylum seeker who lives in southern Arizona has been stranded on the East Coast for months because immigration agents cannot locate the passport and driver's license they took from him when they detained him during a work trip. Arthur Mutegetsi was taken into ICE custody in Maine on July 1, and without those documents he has had no way to fly back to Tucson, where he keeps his address.
Mutegetsi has been in the United States since at least March 2024, according to reporting from Universal Hub, the independent Boston newsroom that first reported the case. He was held for three weeks at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a jail that is run by the county sheriff but also operates as an ICE holding site. An immigration judge in Chelmsford ordered him released at a hearing on July 14, and he was freed on July 20 — though accounts differ on the bond amount: the station reports a $7,500 bond, while the Tucson Sentinel cites $5,000.
Since his release, Mutegetsi has remained in Maine, the station's report notes, while continuing to maintain his Tucson address. He cannot travel back to Arizona without his passport and driver's license, and without a new employment authorization document he cannot even replace his Arizona license.
A Paper Trail That Keeps Going Cold
The case stems from an asylum claim that an immigration judge denied in May, prompting Mutegetsi to file an appeal on June 24. His attorney, Robin Nice, argued to the court that his detention was unlawful because his circumstances had not changed and he was not deportable while that appeal remained pending, and she told the court he should have received an automatic stay of removal in the meantime.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ordered the government to return Mutegetsi's travel documents by August 19. When that deadline passed without the documents, Nice filed a motion to compel enforcement within about a week, and by late September she was urging the court to make ICE explain the delay. On October 9, an assistant U.S. attorney told the court that ICE had searched for the passport and driver's license and could not find any responsive documents. Four days later, on October 13, Nice updated the court that it appeared ICE had, in fact, lost both items.
Mutegetsi applied for a new employment authorization document on July 29, hoping the EAD could serve as a substitute form of identification that would let him fly home. But USCIS had not acted on that application for months, and according to court filings, the wait for a new EAD could stretch as long as 19 months. In an October letter to the court, Mutegetsi wrote that ICE's continued withholding of his property had left him effectively stranded in Maine.
Court Orders Expedited Paperwork
On November 6, Judge Stearns ordered USCIS officials to expedite a new employment authorization document for Mutegetsi and directed the government to coordinate delivery of it within 14 days — by November 20, 2026. The government must also file a status report once it has complied. The court record describes Mutegetsi as someone with no criminal history who has complied with ICE check-in requirements and attended every immigration court hearing in his case.
Amy Grenier, associate director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said ICE's failure to return important documents and belongings to people it releases is not a new problem, and that withholding documents can severely impair a person's ability to function in society. She said an EAD can serve as government-issued identification for domestic travel for asylum seekers who lack a valid passport.
A Broader Pattern, Per ACLU Lawsuit
Mutegetsi's case echoes a class-action lawsuit the ACLU filed on October 13 alleging that ICE routinely fails to return property seized from people it detains and later releases. According to the ACLU, the agency has withheld identification, immigration-status evidence, work authorization papers, Social Security cards, phones, cash and other property from people after their release, and the organization says those deprived of identification or work documents have lost jobs, risked re-arrest, and faced hardship affecting their families.
Among the plaintiffs named in the suit, reported separately by Courthouse News Service, is Vladimir Izmailov, a Russian asylum seeker who said ICE had retained his work authorization documents and his wedding band for more than five months. The ACLU says his experience exemplifies a broader policy failure, alleging that since January 2025 the agency has routinely failed to return important items seized from people detained for civil immigration purposes. The lawsuit names seven plaintiffs in total.
ACLU attorney Michael Perloff wrote that ICE's apparent policy of withholding documents and personal effects is unconstitutional and violates federal law, arguing that the agency's authority to hold seized property for inventory purposes expires once its owner is released. He also wrote that ICE has property-handling directives in place that have not ensured compliance with its legal duties. Nice, Mutegetsi's attorney, said she was unable to comment on his specific case.
