Cheshire Teachers Rally for Afghan Student Detained by ICE

Rihan, an Afghan refugee and senior at Cheshire High School, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on April 6 while his classmates were on spring break, and has been held at a Massachusetts detention center since.

On Monday, a judge ruled that Rihan could be released on $1,500 bond. The Department of Homeland Security did not oppose the ruling. The judge declined to rule on his immigration status.

His attorney, Lauren Cundick Petersen, called the bond ruling “the right result” and has argued that the detention was based on an administrative error. Rihan’s case draws additional weight from his family’s history: his father, who served as a translator for U.S. armed forces, was also detained by ICE in October 2025, then released four months later. Rihan’s detention on April 6 marked the second time ICE had come for the family.

A Student Still Finding His Footing

Rihan and his family arrived in the United States in 2024 after fleeing Afghanistan. He enrolled at Cheshire High School shortly after, arriving with limited English and facing the kind of daily disorientation that documents don’t capture. He had to learn what the bell meant, how to move between classrooms, where to line up in the cafeteria. That was before the schoolwork even started.

Susan Chasen, a chemistry teacher at Cheshire High, met Rihan on his first day. She watched him work through two challenges simultaneously: mastering English and grasping the structure of a hydrogen atom. “In the beginning, it felt like the communication was really tough for him, but I could tell that he was trying so hard, not just to learn the chemistry, but also to learn what it’s like to be a high school student in Connecticut,” Chasen said.

The moment she points to now came during one of her classroom walkarounds.

Rihan raised his hand.

It was the first time he’d asked for help. Chasen went over, he pointed to something on his paper, said a few words in English, and she explained the problem back. He nodded, wrote down the correct answer. “I was so excited that he raised his hand, and then I went over and he kind of pointed to something on his paper,” Chasen recalled. For a teacher working with a newly arrived student who’s still finding his voice, it’s the kind of moment that doesn’t show up in any grade book.

Teachers Waiting for His Return

Amy Russell, who teaches English as a Second Language at Cheshire High, told CT Mirror that Rihan’s gratitude for his teachers’ work set him apart. “He’s clearly deeply appreciative of this opportunity and wants to make the most of his education by working his hardest,” Russell said. Both she and Chasen describe him as quiet, polite, and focused, a student who never needed to be told twice.

Chasen’s portrait of him fills in the same picture. “He was really appreciative of all the help that I was giving him,” she said. “He was just always polite, always sincere, always focused and really grateful for the learning that happened here and any time people spent kind of helping him out with things.”

After Monday’s bond ruling, Petersen thanked Rihan’s school by name in a statement, a detail that reflects just how much of his support network has been built inside Cheshire High’s walls since 2024.

What’s at Stake for Connecticut’s Afghan Community

Rihan’s case isn’t isolated. Connecticut resettled thousands of Afghan refugees following the 2021 U.S. military withdrawal, and advocacy groups have tracked a sharp increase in ICE enforcement actions against that population over the past year, including individuals with Special Immigrant Visa claims and family members of those who served alongside American forces. The International Rescue Committee’s Connecticut office has documented multiple cases where families with no criminal history have faced detention.

For Cheshire, a town of roughly 30,000 that sits between Waterbury and New Haven, the case has focused community attention on a student who most residents had never heard of before April 6. His teachers had. They’re still waiting for him to walk back through the door, take his seat, and raise his hand.

Petersen said Monday’s ruling moves the case in the right direction, and Rihan’s release is contingent on the $1,500 bond being posted.