UMVA has learned that a man who entered the United States under a questionable asylum claim has been taken into ICE custody after serving as a taxpayer‑funded corrections officer in Indiana.
The individual, identified as Selah Dine Habib, arrived near the Arizona border in March 2023 and was released into the country through a pending asylum process. Authorities allege he claimed persecution based on sexual orientation, yet later married a woman in 2025, casting doubt on the legitimacy of his asylum application.
After his marriage to the daughter of Jay County’s sheriff, Habib secured a position as an unarmed correctional officer at the county jail. He presented employment‑authorization documents that cleared the standard I‑9 verification, and an E‑Verify check returned a positive result, allowing him to begin work.
County officials confirm that all routine background checks, drug screens, and reference reviews were completed before his hiring. The sheriff’s office maintains that the onboarding procedures followed established protocols and that any discrepancy flagged by E‑Verify would have stopped the process.
Federal immigration agents arrested Habib on May 21, and he now remains in ICE custody at the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana, while removal proceedings continue.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the case highlights how a fraudulent asylum claim can slip through multiple layers of verification, ultimately placing an individual without legal status into a law‑enforcement role.
