If Hollywood pitched this script, executives might reject it for being too far-fetched. Yet federal immigration officials say it played out in real life in small-town Indiana.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Mauritanian national Selah Dine Habib entered the United States illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in March 2023 and was subsequently released into the country during the Biden-era border surge. Years later, authorities say, he wasn’t hiding in the shadows. He had reportedly landed a taxpayer-funded job as a correctional officer at an Indiana jail — and had even married the daughter of the county sheriff.
Habib’s story is becoming a symbol of everything they argue went wrong: catch-and-release policies, overwhelmed vetting systems and government agencies trusting paperwork over common sense.
DHS alleges Habib’s pending asylum case was built on a claim that he faced persecution because he was homosexual. Investigators now contend the application appears fraudulent because Habib later married a woman in 2025. Federal officials stated: “His pending asylum application is believed to be fraudulent, as he applied based on homosexuality in 2023 but married a woman in 2025.”
That marriage reportedly connected him directly to local law enforcement. Indiana outlet WIBC first reported that Habib married the daughter of Jay County Sheriff Larry Ray Newton before becoming a correctional officer at the county jail. The arrangement effectively made him the sheriff’s step-son-in-law.
The obvious question is one Americans have been asking for years: How exactly does someone accused of entering the country illegally end up working inside a jail?
Local officials insist the hiring process followed established procedures. Sheriff Newton reportedly told local media that Habib worked as an unarmed correctional officer and provided employment authorization documents. County officials further said he successfully passed the federal E-Verify system, the government’s electronic employment-verification program.
The Jay County Auditor’s Office stated: “I am able to confirm that Mr. Habib submitted an I-9 with documentation, and an E-Verify Check was completed at the time of employment. The report came back as employment authorized.”
The office also emphasized that any red flags generated by E-Verify would have stopped the hiring process immediately. In other words, the system gave a green light.
Critics of federal immigration policy say that explanation only deepens concerns. If an individual now accused of filing a fraudulent asylum claim can clear federal employment verification and secure a position in a detention facility, they argue, the problem isn’t merely local hiring decisions — it’s the broader immigration bureaucracy.
Federal authorities ultimately moved in. DHS says Habib was arrested by immigration agents on May 21 and remains in ICE custody while removal proceedings continue.
In a statement highlighting the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, DHS declared: “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin ICE is restoring law and order. Illegal aliens have NO PLACE in our communities, especially in positions of law enforcement.”
Habib is reportedly being held at the Clay County Jail detention facility in Indiana and is contesting a final order of removal.
