Iranian Americans Celebrate Regime-Linked Deportations, Issue Chilling Warning to the U.S.

Iranians in the United States are reacting after visas for several people with alleged ties to the Islamic Regime in Iran were revoked. Seven people so far have had their residency revoked by the Trump administration and have been deported. Some Iranian Americans celebrating the deportations have called it the “tip of the iceberg.”

Shayan Khosravanifarahani, a journalist and activist, has praised the U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he revoked the visas of relatives of the Islamic Regime who were settled in the United States and living a luxurious life. Khosravanifarahani said these people have been living a comfortable life with the money allegedly taken from the Iranian people.

Khosravanifarahani while talking to The New York Post said the families of the regime were using the United States as a platform for propaganda, lobbying, education and a safer and more comfortable life.

On April 11, Rubio revoked Sayed Eissa Hashemi's green card and legal status, along with Maryam Tahmasebi and their son, before they were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Hashemi and Tahmasebi were both professors at the Chicago School in Los Angeles. Hashemi is an adjunct associate professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, also known as “Screaming Mary,” who was the spokesperson for the group that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

These arrests were made earlier in April after the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani were identified. According to the New York Post, the arrests came just a few days after they were identified as living in a luxury apartment in Agoura Hills called “The Avalon.” They were later deported after living in the United States for years.

Khosravanifarahani told The New York Post that he spent two months working with other activists to gather evidence that was later shared with federal authorities, which led to the arrest of both Hashemi and Afshar.

“We knew we couldn’t do much about it just on social media. So, we immediately started hitting the authorities and finding details about them,” Khosravanifarahani said, adding that Afsar’s sister shared documents that helped reveal their identity.

“Even her sister was against how radical (Afsar) is,” he said. “That is why she wanted to help us,” he added.

Khosravanifarahani, who was born in Iran and moved to the U.S. at the age of 14, said there are thousands more Iranians with alleged ties with the regime living in the United States, who pose a national security threat. “These people can be sleeper cells and be activated at the right time,” Khosravanifarahani said.

The Trump administration has revoked the permanent residency of several long-term Iranian residents of the U.S. These individuals have familiar connections with current or former high-ranking officials in Tehran. Authorities have accused them of ties to the Islamic regime and of spreading propaganda against the United States while living comfortably in the country.