The United States has a ceasefire with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our nation and Israel fought a 38- day war against an avowed enemy and the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. It did so while supporters of the evil regime lived in luxury on American soil.
The U.S.’s immigration vetting system is clearly broken. Foreign nationals who seek or support the downfall of the U.S. should not be allowed to live within its borders.
On April 4, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that immigration authorities had detained Hamidehi Soleimani Afshar and her daughter in Los Angeles. Afshar was the niece of Qasem Soleimani, one of the most infamous terrorists in the Middle East.
Soleimani was the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force from 1998 until his death in a U.S.-led strike ordered by President Donald Trump in 2020. As head of the Guard’s most powerful unit, Soleimani oversaw a nexus of terrorists, funding and training foreign terrorist organizations and militias throughout the Middle East. He personally met and advised top operatives from Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Hamas, and other groups that spread havoc and misery throughout the Middle East. They looked to Soleimani and his Quds Force for support and, at times, sanctuary.
Few men had more American blood on their hands. Trump described Soleimani as the “king of roadside bombs.” He oversaw and implemented Iran’s use of explosively formed penetrators designed to murder and maim thousands of U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time of his death on Jan. 3, 2020, from a military strike ordered by Trump, he was reportedly planning attacks on U.S. bases in the region.
Yet while Soleimani was working to turn the Iranian regime’s anthem of “Death to America” into reality, his close relatives were enjoying the freedom and prosperity he spent his life trying to destroy.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Afshar entered the U.S. in 2015, during the height of the Obama administration’s efforts to appease the Iranian regime. In 2019, she claimed asylum and in 2021 was granted a green card. Yet her claims of asylum don’t pass muster. She took no fewer than four trips to the country she claimed to be fleeing.
Secretary Rubio noted Afshar was an “outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime.” While that regime was sowing death and destruction, Afshar was living a comfortable life outside Los Angeles. Photos from a since-deleted Instagram account show her with her daughter in bikinis, on yachts, and wearing designer clothes. Meanwhile, women in Iran faced beatings or acid attacks for showing skin or hair.
Afshar and her daughter aren’t alone. Other relatives of Iranian regime officials have found sanctuary in the very country they despise and against which they have fought a 47-year war.
Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani lived in the U.S. on a green card. She worked as an assistant professor at Emory University in Georgia. Yet her father, Ali Larijani, was a longtime servant of the Iranian regime, secretary of the Supreme National Council, and widely considered the de facto leader of the Islamic Republic at the time of his death in a U.S. strike on March 17. Ardeshir-Larijani reportedly first came to the U.S. for cancer treatment. Now she is in ICE custody.
The U.S. opened its doors, its universities, and its hospitals to an enemy who sought America’s destruction. That is an insult to common sense, to principle, and to people who actually need asylum.
REPUBLICANS SHOULD END THE DEMOCRATS SHUTDOWN THREAT
As Rubio noted, “the Trump administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.” This should be standard practice irrespective of what administration holds power. Clearly more thorough vetting for claims of asylum is needed.
Residing in America is a privilege, not a right, and it should not be accorded to our enemies.