In January 2020, during President Donald Trump's first term in office, a U.S. airstrike took out Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani, who was said to be "plotting imminent and sinister attacks" against the United States.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced federal agents had taken into custody two of Soleimani's relatives who were living in Los Angeles.
The Department of State has terminated the lawful permanent resident (LPR) status of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her 25-year-old daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny. They are reportedly being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a South Texas detention facility, awaiting a deportation hearing in immigration court, officials have confirmed.
Rubio cited their outspoken support for Iran's "totalitarian, terrorist" regime. Afshar reportedly celebrated attacks on Americans and refers to our country as the "Great Satan.
"The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes," the secretary of state wrote in a social media post.
"Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran's terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account," Rubio added.
Social media posts showed the mother and daughter enjoyed travel, luxury goods, and leisure activities, but "no visible means of income" was identified for either woman.
"Obviously, these are people who pose significant risks to the United States," comments Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "They are affiliated with the regime in Tehran that we are currently fighting against; there's absolutely no reason why people who have affiliations with a government that we are in active combat with should be permitted to remain here."
Naturalized U.S. citizens are generally immune from deportation, sharing the same constitutional protections as natural-born citizens. But Mehlman points out that certain acts can forfeit those rights.
"If there's demonstrable evidence that they have misled, provided false information, they can be denaturalized," he tells AFN. "We saw that in many cases with members of the Nazi Party who came here after World War II."
He figures every person who has gone through the denaturalization process did not provide full information when they filled out their application for a visa or for a green card because they knew it would have resulted in not getting that visa in the first place.
Department of Homeland Security officials say Soleimani Afshar entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2015 and was later granted asylum by an immigration judge in 2019. She became a lawful permanent resident in 2021. But in a 2025 naturalization application, officials say she disclosed multiple trips back to Iran after receiving her green card—travel now cited as evidence her original asylum claim was fraudulent.
