About
Muhammad
Zahid Chaudhry
Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry-known as Zahid- is an honorable, decorated, disabled American veteran.
He uses a wheelchair as a result of severe service-connected injuries sustained while serving the United States. He is the husband of a natural-born American citizen and the father of two American-citizen children.
Zahid served in both the United States Army and the National Guard, and prior to his injuries also volunteered as a firefighter and paramedic in Yakima, Washington. He enlisted before September 11, 2001, motivated by genuine patriotism and a desire to serve the country he loved. His officers described him as an exemplary soldier with strong leadership potential. After 9/11, he was activated in support of the Global War on Terror—including Operation Iraqi Freedom—and sustained disabling injuries during active-duty service that permanently changed his life.
Despite his disability, Zahid has dedicated his life to public service and community care. He has served on dozens of nonprofit boards, advised major philanthropic foundations on equitable grant-making, and delivered sermons and reflections in Christian, Quaker, Muslim, and Unitarian Universalist congregations. He has founded multiple nonprofits, including Veterans Suicide Prevention, Sustainability Conservancy, and People of Color Community Coalition.
He has mentored American youth through the DeMolay leadership program, renovated blighted homes, repaired vehicles for community members at no cost, and helped prevent evictions for families facing housing insecurity. A respected advocate for peace, Zahid serves as President of Veterans for Peace, South Sound (Rachel Corrie Chapter). In every moral, civic, and legal sense, he is an upstanding member of the American community.
Military Service and Retaliation
During his military service, Zahid was sought out by intelligence agencies in connection with his mental-health specialization—work that can intersect with counterintelligence screening and assessment. He was offered significant compensation and benefits in exchange for cooperation that would have required him, in his view, to falsely implicate others. He refused, believing such actions violated both his conscience and his oath.
According to sworn statements in the record, he was told explicitly that his refusal would have consequences—including that his life would be made difficult and that his citizenship would not be granted. What followed has been decades of legal persecution: repeated threats of deportation, prolonged delays, and crushing legal expenses that appear designed to exhaust and silence him rather than resolve his case.
A Pattern of Systemic Abuse
Zahid’s experience aligns with a documented Department of Homeland Security policy known as CARRP (Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program). CARRP has been shown to impose indefinite delays and pretextual denials on naturalization applicants who are Muslim (or perceived to be Muslim) and considered “high capability.”
Government records disclosed in Wagafe v. Biden (June/July 2024) confirm that tens of thousands of law-abiding applicants have been affected by this program. The government further acknowledged that at least 18 individuals have had their citizenship applications stalled for over 20 years with no explanation or opportunity for resolution. Documents produced in Zahid’s case indicate that he is one of those individuals.
Compounding the injustice, Zahid’s case was personally handled by Raphael Sanchez and Jonathan Love, then Seattle Chief and Deputy Chief ICE attorneys—both of whom were later criminally convicted for crimes committed against immigrants in their official capacity. One was convicted of stealing the identities of immigrants he deported and using them to commit financial fraud. It was highly unusual for officials of that rank to be directly involved in a case like Zahid’s.
Character, Support, and the Law
Despite permanent disability, near-bankruptcy from legal fees, and sustained government persecution, Zahid has remained committed to the Constitution of the United States and the principles he swore to uphold.
More than 100 letters of support from fellow veterans, faith leaders across four religions, community members, and elected officials—including U.S. Senators—are publicly available and attest to his integrity, service, and character.
Zahid is eligible for U.S. citizenship multiple times over: through marriage, fatherhood, long-term lawful residence, and peaceful conduct. But the core of his claim is straightforward: citizenship by military service. Veterans are entitled under federal law to immediate and expedited naturalization. Zahid has already sworn the soldier’s oath—and sacrificed his health in service to it. He seeks no special treatment, only the citizenship he has earned.
Current Status
As of December 2025, Zahid is detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, while his case proceeds in federal court. His habeas petition challenging his detention is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, with a hearing scheduled for December 22, 2025. Related proceedings are also ongoing before the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals—one level below the Supreme Court —including matters tied to the government’s attempted removal actions. A stay of removal has been sought and litigated to prevent irreversible harm from his deportation while the courts review the record.
Zahid’s health remains a central and urgent concern. He is a wheelchair user with severe service-connected disabilities and chronic pain, and detention has intensified the medical risks he already carries. He has experienced serious and worsening symptoms, including concerns involving vision and neurological deterioration, and his medical care inside has at been inconsistent, poorly documented, and difficult to verify. His treating providers have raised concerns about the need for clear, accountable orders and appropriate continuity of care—because delays or mismanagement can result in permanent harm.
Conditions inside the detention center have also been psychologically destabilizing—both for Zahid and for others around him. He remains separated from his wife and small children while actively litigating his case, often under constraints that make it difficult to access documents, prepare filings, and protect his health. This page is updated as we are able; for the most current developments, please visit and subscribe to our substack for updates.