Federal agents arrested two relatives of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qasem Soleimani in Los Angeles on Friday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, the State Department announced Saturday. The two women, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, identified as Soleimani's niece, and her 25-year-old daughter Sarinasadat Hosseiny, are now in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.

The action marks the latest move by the Trump administration to strip legal status from foreign nationals accused of supporting Iran's theocratic government while living on American soil. It also raises hard questions about how two members of one of Iran's most prominent military families obtained green cards in the first place, and lived comfortably in the Los Angeles area for years while, the government alleges, openly championing the regime their uncle once served.

The State Department laid out its case in a letter confirming the Friday arrests. As the New York Post reported, the letter accused Afshar of a litany of pro-regime activity conducted from inside the United States:

"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 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization."

That is not the profile of a woman who fled Iran seeking refuge. That is the profile of someone who exploited America's asylum system to gain a foothold in a country she openly despises, at least if the State Department's account is accurate.

A timeline that invites scrutiny

The immigration history the government has disclosed deserves close attention. Afshar entered the United States in 2015 on a tourist visa. She was granted asylum in 2019. She secured a green card in 2021. Her daughter Hosseiny also arrived in 2015, on a student visa, and became a green card holder in 2023.

The asylum grant is the hinge. Asylum is reserved for people who face persecution in their home country. Yet the Department of Homeland Security says Afshar made at least four trips back to Iran after receiving her green card. Fox News reported that a DHS spokesperson said bluntly: "Her trips to Iran illustrate her asylum claims were fraudulent."

That is a damning allegation. If a person genuinely fears persecution in a country, she does not fly back four times after obtaining protected status. Either the fear was real and subsided, in which case the basis for asylum evaporated, or it was never genuine. Either way, the green card rested on a foundation that DHS now says was false.

The broader pattern of stepped-up immigration enforcement under the Trump administration has drawn fierce criticism from the left. But cases like this one make the critics' job harder. This is not a story about a family quietly building a life in America. This is a story about a family with direct ties to a designated terror organization's senior leadership allegedly using the immigration system as a vehicle while celebrating the regime's hostility toward the country that took them in.

Designer handbags and a Tesla

The Post reported spotting Afshar outside her Tujunga-area residence on Saturday, roughly 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. She was stuffing designer handbags into a Tesla sedan. The property sits on Plainview Avenue, a two-bedroom abode where, the Post reported, Afshar had been living in a unit in the backyard.

Her daughter's lifestyle, as described through social media posts referenced in the reporting, featured trips to Miami, Alaska, and Las Vegas, along with photos in the desert next to a helicopter. Hosseiny reportedly lived in Hollywood.

Halasius Bradford, a 50-year-old neighbor who rents the main house on the Plainview Avenue property, told the Post that Hosseiny was detained by ICE while driving. Bradford relayed what the daughter's boyfriend told him about the arrest:

"The daughter lives in Hollywood. The boyfriend told me that he and Sarina were driving outside the house when they were cut up by ICE cars. He said the agents were demanding to know where the mother was."

The image is striking. Two women connected to one of Iran's most powerful military figures, a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members through the Quds Force's proxy operations, living well in Los Angeles, posting glamorous photos on social media, while the government says they were simultaneously praising the regime and calling America the "Great Satan."

Critics of ICE operations have raised concerns about the scope of enforcement actions under the current administration. But the specific facts alleged here, family ties to a designated terror organization's general, open pro-regime propaganda, and what DHS calls fraudulent asylum claims, sit squarely within any reasonable definition of a national security enforcement priority.

Rubio's message and the legal framework

Secretary of State Rubio announced the action on X, writing that he had personally terminated both women's legal status. National Review reported that the legal basis appears to involve a foreign-policy deportation provision allowing removal of non-citizens whose presence may have serious adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy, though the outlet noted the process could face court challenges.

Rubio framed the action in direct terms:

"The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes."

DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis reinforced the point. "It is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America," Bis told the Post. "If we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the US, the green card will be revoked."

The State Department also noted that Afshar's husband, whose name was not disclosed, is now barred from entering the United States. Just The News reported that the State Department identified the two women specifically as relatives of Qasem Soleimani in its announcement confirming their arrest and ICE custody.

Not the first such action

This case follows a similar move last month, when the State Department terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larjiani, identified as the daughter of Ali Larjiani, the former Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. The administration appears to be systematically identifying relatives of senior Iranian regime figures who hold U.S. immigration benefits and revoking those benefits.

The context is significant. The joint U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran had, at the time of the arrests, entered its sixth week. Qasem Soleimani himself was killed in a drone strike ordered by President Trump near Baghdad International Airport in 2020, an action that eliminated the man who led the Quds Force and orchestrated Iran's network of proxy attacks across the Middle East.

The ongoing leadership changes at the Department of Homeland Security, including the recent Senate confirmation of Markwayne Mullin as DHS secretary, have not slowed the pace of high-profile enforcement actions. If anything, cases like Afshar's suggest the administration is accelerating its focus on foreign nationals with ties to hostile governments.

The real question

The open questions here are not small. What vetting process allowed the niece of Qasem Soleimani to receive asylum and a green card in the first place? Who approved those applications? Were the applicants' family connections to one of the world's most notorious military commanders somehow missed, or were they known and deemed irrelevant?

And if DHS is correct that Afshar traveled back to Iran at least four times after receiving her green card, how did that not trigger an automatic review of her asylum status years ago? The system either failed to flag the trips or flagged them and did nothing.

The debate over ICE tactics and immigration enforcement will continue. But this case is not about a broken tail light or a missed court date. It is about two members of a family at the center of Iran's military apparatus allegedly exploiting the generosity of the American immigration system while openly rooting for the other side.

A country that cannot revoke a green card under those circumstances is a country that has stopped taking its own security seriously. The Trump administration, whatever its critics say, is not making that mistake here.