Overview
- Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, arrested Friday in Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio ended their lawful permanent residency, remain in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings.
- The State Department says Afshar promoted Iranian government propaganda, cheered attacks on U.S. troops and sites, praised the new supreme leader, called America the “Great Satan,” and backed the IRGC, which the U.S. lists as a terrorist group.
- Officials also barred Afshar’s husband from entering the U.S., and DHS records show she entered on a tourist visa in 2015, gained asylum in 2019, and a green card in 2021, while her daughter followed a similar path.
- DHS says Afshar disclosed four trips to Iran in a 2025 naturalization filing, which officials argue undercuts her earlier asylum claim and factors into the move to strip her status.
- State Department officials cast the arrests as part of a broader drive that already revoked status for Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani and her husband, a push taking place during ongoing U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran.