Indian Jazz guitarist Pritesh Walia detained by ICE, claim friends and family; phone taken away
Pritesh Walia, an Indian musician, was detained by ICE on August 2, a statement issued from his Instagram account claimed. “This is Liza. I’m currently managing Pritesh’s account on his behalf. On Sunday night, August 2, after we returned to Los Angeles, Pritesh was unexpectedly detained by ICE and taken into custodt. He had since been transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center,” the message read.“His personal belongings, including his phone, were taken upon detention, and he currently has no access to them,” the message added.There has been no official update about the arrest from ICE so far.“His family and I are actively working with attorneys to address the situation and secure his release as soon as possible,” the statement read.
Who is musician Pritesh Walia?
Walia was born in India and came to the US to pursue higher education. He received his Associate’s degree from the Musician’s Institute in LA, a Bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music, and a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory.In 2023, Walia faced a health crisis and was diagnosed with Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness, Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH), and chronic vestibular migraines. His friends at that time set up a fundraiser for his treatment as the health issues stopped him from performing.In that fundraiser, it was mentioned that Walia received an artist visa to continue staying in the US. Artist visa is the colloquial term for an O1B visa in the US. The initial validity period for the visa is three years.As neither Walia nor ICE issued any statement on the reason why Walia was detained, the news spread speculation on Reddit that his artist visa had probably lapsed. “Hi, this is his cousin from Mumbai, On behalf of Pritesh’s family, we would like to immensely thank all of his wellwishers and supporters. We are extremely grateful and request you to keep him in your prayers, so that he finds all the strength he needs, to fight this most uncalled for crisis. Do pray for his safety and release at the earliest,” one Redditor claiming to be Walia’s cousin posted.The incident comes as ICE surveillance and arrests at airports increased and immigration experts have been advising visa holders to reconsider traveling, even domestic traveling.
