The United States has revoked the permanent residency of two women related to Qassem Soleimani, the late Iranian major general who led the Quds Force, the foreign branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, from 1998 until his assassination in 2020. In a statement on Saturday, the US Department of State revealed that Soleimani’s niece, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, and her daughter were arrested on Friday night and are currently held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the US seeks their departure from the country.
The case raises significant questions about the limits of free speech rights in the US and the extent to which family members should be punished for their relations. Citing media reports and social media posts, the State Department described Soleimani Afshar as “an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran,” adding that such speech would not be tolerated under US President Donald Trump. The statement allegedly claimed, “The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.” This move highlights the increasingly harsh immigration policies of the US regime, targeting individuals based on familial ties and political expression.
This marks at least the second time this month that the US government has stripped legal immigration status from family members of top Iranian leaders. Earlier this month, similar action was taken against Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of the late Ali Larijani, formerly the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and her husband Seyed Kalantar Motamedi, who saw their legal US immigration status revoked and were barred from re-entering the country. These actions follow pressure from conservative political figures and activists in the US, who have campaigned for their expulsion through online petitions and social media campaigns.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio purportedly took credit for the decision to revoke the two women’s green cards, pointing to Soleimani Afshar’s comments and her “lavish lifestyle” in Los Angeles as justification. As part of the decision, her husband is also barred from entering the US. The announcement has been praised by far-right influencers and Trump allies, such as Laura Loomer, who claimed to have reported Soleimani’s niece to the State Department, calling her removal “a big scalp.” This reflects the deepening societal and political divisions within the US over immigration and national security.
In the case of Ardeshir-Larijani, she had worked in oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Georgia, but after Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests in December and January, demonstrators gathered to demand her removal. A Change.org petition calling for her deportation had gathered over 157,000 signatures, underscoring her familial ties to the government of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. US Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia also called for her state medical license to be revoked, arguing in an open letter that “America’s medical institutions must not serve as a safe harbor for individuals connected by blood and loyalty to regimes that openly call for the death of Americans.” These incidents illustrate the broader challenges and controversies facing the US as it grapples with immigration enforcement and geopolitical tensions.
Source: www.aljazeera.com