Earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained Mohamed Shama, a North Carolinian man from Egypt who worked at the local AMC movie theater and was awarded “General Manager of the Year,” while at an immigration interview, according to his wife Maggie Hanlon and a GoFundMe set up on his behalf.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in an email Wednesday: “He entered the U.S. on a B2-tourist visa that required him to depart the U.S. by May 25, 2014. After more than a decade of illegally living in the U.S., ICE arrested him and placed him in removal proceedings.”

Newsweek has reached out to ICE and AMC for comment via email on Wednesday. Newsweek has also reached out to Hanlon for comment via Facebook Me

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