Sandra and Abdellatif were staunch supporters of President Donald Trump. Ph . / Sandra Hafraoui ‹ › A 60-year-old Moroccan who has lived in the United States for more than 38 years, spent 108 days in ICE detention after being arrested on August 11 at Newark Liberty International Airport while preparing to travel with his wife. Released in November after paying a $15,000 bond, Abdellatif Hafraoui now wears an ankle monitor as his immigration case continues, the couple told local media. His Moroccan passport remains in the custody of U.S. authorities. Hafraoui, who has no criminal record, was detained over an old deportation order issued in absentia after a former lawyer failed to notify him of a court hearing. The attorney was later convicted in a federal immigration fraud scheme and sentenced to five years in prison. A New Jersey immigration judge ultimately overturned the deportation order on the very day Hafraoui was scheduled to be deported to Morocco. He was first held at Delaney Hall in Newark before being transferred to detention centers in Louisiana and Arizona. At one point, officers pressured him to board a commercial flight and waive his rights. «They told me if I didn't get on the flight, I would be punished», he said. After refusing, he was placed in solitary confinement for 10 days. Before his arrest, Hafraoui had worked for nearly two decades as a concierge in Manhattan. After marrying his wife Sandra in 2011, he renewed his work permits while pursuing permanent residency. The Moroccan had arrived in the U.S. at age 22. «I'm American. I actually don't know anything that's going on in Morocco», he said. «When I was a kid, I used to watch American movies. That's what attracted me to come here». Together with his wife, Hafraoui was strong supporter of President Donald Trump and attended a rally in Las Vegas in 2020. His wife voted for Trump three times, believing immigration enforcement would target «the worst of the worst», people with criminal records, not individuals like her husband. «I would like to go back to work, to feel normal again», Hafraoui pleaded. «We just want to be treated like people with rights», Sandra said. «Not as problems to be managed».
