May 21 marked the arrest of Selah Dine Habib, a Mauritanian national who ICE says entered illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in March 2023 and was later released into the U.S.
DHS says Habib’s still-pending asylum case was fraudulent because he claimed persecution based on homosexuality in 2023, then married a woman in 2025.
Jay County later hired him as an unarmed correctional officer after he submitted I-9 documents and passed a federal E-Verify check, according to county officials cited by WIBC.
WIBC reported the woman he married was the daughter of Sheriff Larry Ray Newton, making Habib the sheriff’s step-son-in-law when he joined the jail staff.
Habib is now held at the Clay County Jail detention facility in Brazil, Indiana, and is contesting a final deportation order pending removal proceedings.
How did a fraudulent asylum seeker pass federal E-Verify checks to become a county corrections officer?
With E-Verify failing and I-9 penalties soaring, are employers facing an impossible compliance challenge?