STONE RIDGE – Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) held his latest “speak-out” on Monday — this one to allow members of the Hudson Valley community to push for the release of 31-year-old New Paltz resident Ali Faqirzada.

Faqirzada is an asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, who was detained by ICE officials last month after his scheduled asylum hearing.

Nearly 100 supporters gathered in the rain outside the Christ the King Episcopal Church in Stone Ridge in an emotional appeal for Faqirzada’s release from a New Jersey detention center.

Faqirzada and his family sought refuge in America nearly four years ago after working alongside the United States for a free and democratic Afghanistan.

Ryan says Faqirzada’s story is exactly what our asylum process in the United States is all about.

“Anyone who i

See Full Page