Those arrested included a former Iranian Army sniper and a man sentenced to 10 years in prison for a drug conviction. Some say arrests are political.
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Federal agents have arrested 11 Iranians who have lived in the United States over the past few days, Homeland Security officials announced Tuesday.
Almost every arrest was made on Sunday after US military planes bombed a vital Iranian nuclear presence. President Donald Trump said he ordered a strike to stop the nuclear threat posed by the “world’s number one national sponsor of terrorism.”
The arrest also comes among Americans who fear violence in the US amidst the conflict with Iran. The mayors from New York City to Los Angeles say they see every threat to public safety.
Among those arrested, officials said: Mehran Makari Saheli, 56 years old, convicted of illegal possession of a firearm, is a former member of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Libbar Karimi, a former Iranian Army sniper, was unable to adjust his immigration status. And Yousef Mehridehno was labelled by Homeland Security as “a suspected terrorist” who lied to his Visa application. Karimi was in possession of an Iranian Army Identification Card at the time of his arrest, federal officials said.
“We’ve said we’re getting the worst and worst, and we’re,” said Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary for homeland security. “We will not wait until a military operation is carried out. We will actively provide President Trump’s mission to secure our hometown.”
The arrests took place across the country. Ice Buffalo arrested the 65-year-old on Monday and was convicted of “detective impersonation and practicing as a lawyer,” federal officials said. Ice San Francisco arrested the 62-year-old, 62, on Sunday, officials said.
An Iranian-American group condemned the obvious crackdown in light of the war, saying the White House “weaponizes” immigration authorities in order to chase their political enemies.
“We are deeply concerned about the Department of Homeland Security’s response to racial profiling that undermines the civil liberties of individuals in Iran’s heritage in the United States and geopolitical tensions overseas,” said Ryan Costello, policy director for the American Council of Iran, based in Washington, D.C., to improve American relations to improve American relations. “That’s wrong, it’s not Americans. It’s threats and legal intelligence that need to promote this kind of enforcement action, not security theatres.”
It is fairly rare for Iranians living in the US to violate immigration authorities, according to data. Of the approximately 113,500 people arrested by immigration and customs enforcement authorities in 2024, 68 were from Iran. The 47 people arrested were subsequently criminally convicted. The rest were immigration violations, according to federal data.
Federal government data shows that the number of Iranians arrested by immigration customs recently reached 16% of the total number of Iranian citizens arrested in all 2024 fiscal year.
