How a Perfume Bottle Ruined an Indian Man’s American Dream

Transcript

00:00He's got a liquid vial that has a label that says opium.

00:04Just a second, okay?

00:06He didn't do anything wrong.

00:07A traffic stop turned into a nightmare for an Indian-origin man named Kapil Raghu living in Arkansas, U.S.

00:13Kapil was pulled over for a minor traffic violation when police found a small bottle in his car named opium,

00:18assuming it was the drug.

00:20Just a perfume!

00:21But it wasn't narcotics at all.

00:22It was Yves Saint-Orault's perfume of the name Black Opium.

00:25Despite Raghu's repeated explanations, he was arrested and spent three days in jail before lab tests confirmed it was actually perfume.

00:33But his ordeal didn't end there.

00:35Because of a clerical mix-up in his immigration paper book,

00:37Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him for nearly a month in a Louisiana facility,

00:42even after the drug charge was dropped on May 20th, 2025.

00:46His visa was revoked, his green card process derailed, and his family was left devastated.

00:51This case is just one example of how ICE has lately come under fire for harsh enforcement and legal ambiguity.

00:58Reports show that ICE is doing more courthouse arrests in some cases of people with no criminal history,

01:04sparking concerns about civil rights and due process.

01:07Detention centres have been criticised for overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions,

01:11lack of proper medical and mental health care, and mistreatment of detainees.

01:15Long.

01:17Long.