The Trump administration has revoked the lawful permanent resident status of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar—described by the State Department as a niece of slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani—and her daughter, and federal immigration agents have detained them pending removal, according to a State Department statement and comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The State Department said Saturday that Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, who had been living in Los Angeles, were arrested late Friday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, commonly known as green cards.
In its statement, the department said the two are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and that Afshar’s husband has been barred from entering the United States.
The department alleged that Afshar publicly supported Iran’s government while living in the United States, including by promoting Iranian state propaganda on social media, celebrating attacks on U.S. soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praising Iran’s “new” supreme leader, referring to the United States as the “Great Satan,” and supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the United States designates as a terrorist organization.
Rubio echoed those claims in a post on X dated April 4, 2026, writing that Afshar and her daughter had been “living lavishly” in the United States, and that he terminated their legal status this week. He said they are now in ICE custody and face removal.
Separately, the administration has also moved to revoke visas for other Iranian nationals tied to senior Iranian officials. The State Department said it recently revoked the visas of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, described as an academic and the daughter of Ali Larijani, a former Iranian national security official, as well as her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi. The department said neither is currently in the United States and both have been barred from entry.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations had no comment on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Iranian media have also reported a denial from a member of Soleimani’s family disputing that the detained pair are relatives, an assertion that could not be independently verified from official U.S. documents made public.
