Let me tell you about a man named Assim Alkhawaja. He’s 53 years old. Palestinian, grew up in Saudi Arabia. He came to this country, got himself a doctorate from the University of San Francisco, and opened a coffee shop in San Diego called Sands Coffee Roasters. Started as a little cart, grew into a brick-and-mortar store. He imports beans from Brazil and Colombia. He has a valid work permit that doesn’t expire until 2030. He has a pending asylum case. He has zero criminal convictions.
And he has an ankle monitor strapped to his left leg. The kind they used to reserve for sex offenders.
Here’s what happened. Back in February, Alkhawaja was driving Lyft to make some extra money. He picked up two passengers, dropped them off at Camp Pendleton, the big Marine base in San Diego County. The guard at the gate scanned his driver’s license, asked for another form of ID. Alkhawaja handed over his work permit. The guard walked away and came back with two ICE agents.
“You’re coming with us,” they told him.
They handcuffed his wrists and his ankles, ran a chain around his waist. He said it felt like he’d assassinated the president. They took his phone, his IDs, his Costco card, and the shoelaces out of his shoes. They put him in a van. He had to jump to get in because of the chains. They drove him to an office in downtown San Diego, where an agent offered him $3,000 to leave the country on the spot. He said no. So they shipped him to Otay Mesa detention center, one of the biggest immigration lockups in California, run by a private company called CoreCivic. He spent eight days there. Navy blue uniform with “DETAINEE” printed on the back in big block letters. Room with eight strangers. Nobody knew when they’d get out.
Dragon77 / PixabayNow he checks in with immigration officials almost every week. At the courthouse. At his home. Wearing that ankle monitor. Like he’s on parole for something awful.
I have some questions for the manager.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson described Alkhawaja as “a criminal illegal alien from Saudi Arabia.” They dug up a disorderly conduct arrest from 2002, more than two decades ago, when he was visiting this country on a trip, got swept up in what sounds like a sting operation, and was released from the station the same night. Never charged. Never convicted. His attorney, Sydney Johnson, confirmed that. No criminal record. Nothing.
But DHS called him a criminal anyway. Because that’s what bureaucrats do when they need to justify treating a man like cattle. They find something, anything, dust it off, and wave it around hoping nobody looks too close.
Here’s the part that ought to sit in your craw regardless of where you stand on immigration. This man did everything the government asked him to do. Applied for asylum. Got his work permit the legal way. Started a business. Paid taxes. Followed every rule they handed him. And they still put him in chains, locked him in a cell, and strapped a GPS tracker to his ankle.
cottonbro studio / PexelsJohnson put it plain: “You can do everything right and you can still get screwed.”
Camp Pendleton has been running a joint operation with ICE since 2025, a “security initiative” they call it, scanning IDs at the gate and flagging anyone who doesn’t pass muster. ICE has removed more than 16,000 people from the San Diego area alone since January 2025. The arrests happen at courthouses, at Home Depots, at military bases, outside schools.
DHS says its officers “have the authority to question, without warrant, any alien or person believed to be an alien.” Without a warrant. Let that one roll around in your head for a minute.
Alkhawaja sat outside the courthouse in the sun, wearing his ankle monitor and a nice quilted jacket, and asked the only question that matters here: “Is this America?”
I’d like an answer from somebody who isn’t reading off a DHS press release.