An Indian immigrant living in Arkansas is fighting to remain in the United States after a misunderstanding during a traffic stop led to his arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The incident began when officers mistook a bottle of perfume labeled “Opium” for the narcotic drug of the same name.
Kapil Raghu, 28, was working as a delivery driver when police in Benton, Arkansas, pulled him over in May for a license plate cover that allegedly obscured part of his plate. During the stop, an officer spotted the small perfume bottle in his car and suspected it contained drugs. Despite Raghu’s repeated explanations that it was only a fragrance, he was handcuffed, arrested, and later turned over to ICE after his expired visa came to light.
Raghu, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has a stepdaughter, spent nearly a month in ICE custody before being released. Laboratory tests later confirmed the perfume was not a controlled substance, and all local charges were dropped. Still, he remains in deportation proceedings and is barred from legally working.
“I’m extremely depressed,” Raghu told NBC News. “I can’t work at all or make my family happy.”
Raghu has sent a letter to ICE asking the agency to use its discretion to dismiss his case, arguing that the arrest was based entirely on a misunderstanding. In the letter, he describes the emotional and financial strain the ordeal has placed on his family and pleads for the opportunity to obtain legal status through proper channels.
“This situation has shaken me and my family, but it has also reinforced my determination to move forward in a positive direction,” Raghu wrote. “All I ask for is the chance to continue that journey without further hardships.”
Raghu’s civil rights attorney, Michael Laux, said the arrest showed a lack of reasonable care. He pointed out that the roller bottle was a common knockoff of Yves Saint Laurent’s popular perfume “Opium,” easily recognizable as a fragrance.
“The lack of reasonable care that went into this arrest is really pretty shocking,” Laux said. “And obviously it started a cascading effect here.”
The Benton Police Department said the officer believed the vial contained a controlled substance “based on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer.” Once the state crime lab confirmed it was perfume, charges were dropped. The department said an internal investigation is ongoing.
Raghu’s immigration attorney, Javier Contreras, said the case was complicated by his client’s immigration history. Raghu entered the U.S. legally on a B-2 tourist visa in May 2024, but the visa expired later that year. He had hired a lawyer to help file paperwork to stay in the country legally, but the attorney failed to submit the forms in time. By the time Raghu married his wife, Ashley Mays, this spring, his visa had already lapsed.
After his arrest, Raghu was transferred from a local jail to ICE custody in Louisiana. Once the perfume tested clean, he was granted bond and released. But now, his pending deportation case prevents him from obtaining a work permit until his family-based visa is approved — a process that could take years.
“It’s been really hard,” said Mays, who now works three jobs to support their family. “He’s not able to work, so I’m doing everything I can to pay the bills and take care of my daughter.”
The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal expenses and basic needs while they wait for a resolution. Despite the challenges, they remain hopeful that ICE will dismiss the case.