The State Department announced Saturday that two relatives of the late Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed in a January 2020 US airstrike, have been detained in the state of California.
Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, Soleimani's niece, and her daughter, were detained in Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated their lawful permanent residencies, or Green Card, status, on the grounds that they were "enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account," according to a statement by the agency.
"Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran," it said.
"While living in the United States, she promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the 'Great Satan,' and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization," said the statement.
It noted that Afshar, who is expected to be deported, has a husband abroad who has been barred from entering the US.
"The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes," it concluded.
In March, Rubio also revoked the visas of the daughter of Iran's former security chief Ali Larijani and her husband, who was killed last month in an Israeli airstrike.
