Ugandan refugee Steven Tendo hugs Dian Kahn, a member of the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network, outside a federal immigration office in 2022.Lisa Rathke/Associated Press

Last December, Steven Tendo stood on the steps of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont, speaking to a crowd holding a candlelight vigil for immigrant justice.

“I believe that when we gather like this,” said Tendo, an ordained minister and asylum seeker from Uganda who fled torture and political persecution, “we are not only raising our voices, we are building a sanctuary in the public square—a sanctuary where immigrants can feel seen, heard, and valued; a sanctuary where policies are challenged, but more importantly, where hearts are changed.”

Tendo thanked the community members who have been accompanying him to his regular check-in appointments with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in St. Albans. “I hold you dear in my heart when I walk out of my house to go to work at the hospital, not knowing whether I’ll be back or not,” he said.

Tendo’s words proved prescient. On Wednesday morning, he was arrested by immigration officers outside a Shelburne medical facility where he works as a licensed nursing assistant, just two days before a scheduled routine appointment with the agency.  

“Everything seemed okay,” Tendo told me during a phone call Sunday night from the Strafford County jail in Dover, New Hampshire, where he’s being detained. “And to my dismay, they came to my place of work and did all that kind of chaos there, shouting and yelling. The patients were like, ‘What’s going on?’ Everyone was scared.” Tendo said the officers “brutally” arrested him at gunpoint while his car was in motion and handcuffed his hands behind his back. “It was so scary,” he said. “I never expected that to happen in the United States. It happens in Uganda, but not here.”  

“I followed the rules. I’ve done great in the community. I’ve never abused any of the conditions of the stay or of my supervision…I’m so scared, I cannot go back.”

Tendo came to the United States in 2018, seeking political asylum after becoming a target of the Ugandan government for his organization’s civic education and voter........

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