A transgender person who served in a highly classified Israeli military division was detained by U.S. federal immigration agents, one day after a judge ordered New Hampshire to justify the apprehension.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday that it arrested “Avishay Alon, a criminal illegal alien from Israel, during targeted operations in Concord, New Hampshire,” referring to the male-born former Israel Defense Forces soldier’s birth name.
“Alon’s criminal history includes conviction for criminal threat against person with deadly weapon, kidnapping, and drug possession,” ICE said on social media.
Alon was an intelligence specialist with the IDF, according to defense attorney Michael Iacopino’s sentencing memorandum, and was tasked with supplying cutting-edge technology to Israeli combat soldiers and spies.
After leaving Unit 81, a tech division of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Alon worked as a computer engineer at Amazon and Microsoft before founding two startup companies.
In the sentencing memorandum, Mr. Iacopino said Alon began treatment for gender psychology and began using narcotic drugs.
In 2024, having moved to Dover, New Hampshire, Alon was arrested for kidnapping a male acquaintance and sentenced to two to six years in a state prison.
On Aug. 19, U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe wrote that Alon “apparently” completed a minimum state sentence and was granted parole, according to court filings.
But New Hampshire corrections officials refused to release Alon except directly into ICE custody while waiting for the agency to set a pickup date.
Judge McAuliffe noted that federal regulations cap this kind of immigration detainer at 48 hours and ordered the state to show cause by the next day — the same day ICE announced Alon’s arrest.
