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Green Card Holder Detained by ICE for Over 4 Months After Making Wrong Turn
Green Card Holder Detained by ICE for Over 4 Months After Making Wrong Turn

Newsweek

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Newsweek

Green Card Holder Detained by ICE for Over 4 Months After Making Wrong Turn

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Milad Aspari, a green card holder from Iran, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) after mistakenly crossing into Canada and was arrested upon reentry. Advocates warn that his potential deportation to Iran could endanger his life, given his Kurdish identity. Newsweek reached out to Aspari's attorney, ICE, and USCIS for comment via email on Thursday. Why It Matters Aspari's detention comes amid an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration and inflamed U.S. relations with Iran. His legal team argues that his Kurdish ethnic and religious minority identity will complicate his security matters even more after President Donald Trump struck three of the country's nuclear sites, Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz, on Saturday. Iran later struck a U.S. base in Qatar. The Trump administration has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. In addition to people residing in the country illegally, immigrants with valid documentation, including green cards and visas, have been detained and face legal jeopardy. Many people have been deported as a result of Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which grants the president authority to deport noncitizens without appearing before a judge, among other wartime authorities. What To Know On February 20, Aspari was arrested by ICE officials after he and his work team, who were working just two miles from the Canadian border, accidentally turned into Canada for a few miles due to construction and road closures. As they turned back into the U.S., Aspari was taken into custody. He is currently being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. Aspari is a green card holder who is the father of a U.S. citizen daughter. His girlfriend, Ruth, whose last name is protected for security reasons, told Seattle news station KING 5 that Aspari left Iran due to religious and political persecution. His lawyer has filed an asylum claim. Around 10 percent of the population in Iran identifies as Kurdish, roughly between 8 and 12 million people. The ethnic and religious minority has a history of being persecuted in Iran. On September 16, 2022, a Kurdish Iranian woman, Mahsa (Jina) Amini, died in police custody, with many speculating she was killed by the country's morality police. She was arrested for a dress code violation, a common arrest for women in Iran. The suspicious circumstances of her death sparked protests across the country and world, branded as the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where Milad Aspari is being detained. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where Milad Aspari is being detained. JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images Aspari's lawyer told KING 5 that a previous assault conviction and a violation of a no-contact order are the reasons his client is still being held in detention. The outlet reported that the no-contact order has been dismissed. Ruth previously stated that the no-contact order was related to a verbal argument between the couple three years ago. Aspari was booked over it and later signed paperwork that he didn't understand due to language barriers, Ruth told KING 5. Their daughter appeared at the court hearing on Wednesday, when the judge ruled to postpone the next hearing for several months. The Department of Homeland Security arrested 11 Iranian nationals earlier this week amid tensions with Iran. What People Are Saying Aspari's girlfriend Ruth told KING 5 News: "If he goes back to Iran, they're going to kill him for sure because of religion." A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Newsweek on June 25, regarding a different case: "Possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right; and under our nation's laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. In addition to immigration removal proceedings, lawful permanent residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention." Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said in a June 24 press release about the arrest of 11 Iranian nationals: "Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden's fraudulent parole programs or otherwise. "We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don't wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump's mandate to secure the homeland." What Happens Next Aspari's next hearing is expected to take place on July 8.

Is Israel trying to destroy Iran's nukes — or topple its government?
Is Israel trying to destroy Iran's nukes — or topple its government?

Vox

time17-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Vox

Is Israel trying to destroy Iran's nukes — or topple its government?

is a senior correspondent at Vox covering foreign policy and world news with a focus on the future of international conflict. He is the author of the 2018 book, Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood , an exploration of border conflicts, unrecognized countries, and changes to the world map. Smoke rises from locations targeted in Tehran amid the third day of Israel's waves of strikes against Iran, on June 15, 2025. Zara/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Iran's state broadcaster, which was bombed mid-broadcast by Israel on Monday, was many things to many people. It was the employer of hundreds of journalists, some of whom were injured in the attack, prompting protests from press freedom organizations. It was also the propaganda arm of a repressive regime, which has broadcast the 'confessions' of hundreds of the regime's opponents over the years, many believed to have been extracted by torture. What it was not is an integral component of Iran's nascent nuclear program. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country had 'no choice' but to launch airstrikes to stop Iran's imminent rush to acquire a nuclear bomb. But it has also been apparent that this was the floor, not the ceiling, of Israel's ambitions. 'From the beginning, it was apparent, based on the targeting and Israeli public messaging, that this had the potential to be something much more than just a counter-proliferation operation,' said Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Retired Gen. Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel's national security council with close ties to the current government, told reporters on Monday that regime change was not the 'explicit' goal of the Israeli campaign, which is focused on setting back Iran's nuclear and missile programs, but added, 'I cannot hide that this is the implicit goal or dream of hope of the Israeli government.' Could Iran's regime really fall? The Iranian regime has clearly been weakened by sanctions and the damage dealt to its regional proxy network over the past year. It has few allies, the ones it does have aren't doing much to help, and recent nationwide protests show that there is widespread and deep opposition. But that doesn't mean that the regime is about to collapse after four decades in power. So far, there hasn't been much concerted anti-regime protest since the strikes began, not surprising given that thousands are fleeing the capital city, Tehran. Abdullah Mohtadi, the exiled leader of a Kurdish Iranian opposition party, told Vox that the airstrikes had caused 'mixed feelings' for his movement's supporters. While few will mourn the death of senior commanders who had been involved in crackdowns against peaceful protesters, regime opponents are also fearful about the destruction and strife the war could unleash, especially if it continues for a long time. 'War itself is not a good thing, but sometimes it presents a window of opportunity. I hope this will be the case this time,' Mohtadi said. Other Iranian opposition figures have explicitly rejected Netanyahu's calls for an uprising, saying the bombing doesn't help their movement. It's difficult to generalize about public opinion in any country of 90 million people, much less one where speaking out against the government can be dangerous, noted Ellie Geranmayeh, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, but she said there was a risk of Israel's bombing provoking a 'rally around the flag' effect for disaffected Iranians. 'There is very little love from the Iranian population for the ruling elite,' she said. 'But the more they are seeing pictures of hospitals under attack, civilian deaths rising, state infrastructure, like oil, gas, electricity being hit, sooner or later, public opinion will shift.' Does America want another regime change war in the Middle East? Still, if overthrowing the Islamic Republic, not just halting its nuclear program, is Netanyahu's dream, that changes the stakes for the Trump administration given that Israel is fairly explicitly hoping to directly draw the US military into the conflict. Regime change in Iran had been an implicit goal of Trump's first administration, which pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, applied 'maximum pressure sections,' and authorized the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the second most powerful figure in the regime. But until just a few days ago, it appeared that the new Trump administration was different. Hawks like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were gone, replaced by America Firsters who argued the US should either be more restrained in using military force abroad, or that it should shift its focus from high-risk, low-reward engagements in the Middle East to the more important superpower conflict with China. The Republican Party, it appeared, had turned the page from the George W. Bush era. In a speech in Saudi Arabia in May, Trump condemned the 'neo-cons' and 'nation builders' who he said had 'wrecked far more nations than they built…intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.' This Trump administration was perfectly willing to go behind Israel's back to cut deals with Iranian-backed proxies like the Houthis and Hamas as well as negotiate with Iran itself on a new nuclear agreement. Even after Israel's airstrikes started, and Trump belatedly embraced them, he still expressed hope that the Iranians would return to the negotiating table. On Tuesday, however, Trump said he was seeking a 'real end' to the conflict and might give up on diplomacy entirely, hinting vaguely that something 'much bigger' than a ceasefire is in the works. He has called for the Iranian government's 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!' and suggested that Khamenei could still be targeted. Now, longtime regime change advocates — like Trump's first-term national security adviser John Bolton and Sen. Lindsey Graham — are coming out of the woodwork and urging the US to join Israel's war, with Graham telling Fox News, 'Wouldn't the world be better off if the ayatollahs went away and were replaced by something better? Wouldn't Iran be better off?' Trump appears to have turned on antiwar supporters like 'kooky Tucker Carlson,' while Vice President JD Vance, who was warned in the past that a war in Iran could spark 'World War III,' issued a long statement saying that the focus should remain on Iran's nuclear program. What might regime change look like? In his tweet, Vance noted that Americans 'are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy.' The chaos that followed the US-backed toppling of autocratic governments in Afghanistan, Iran, and Libya looms over this conflict, as do Israel's bloody occupations of southern Lebanon and more recently Gaza. It's not an inspiring track record. Eiland, the retired Israeli general, was more optimistic, suggesting that while Iranians were unlikely to rise up while bombs are falling, the operation could make such an uprising more likely down the road. 'Seventy to 80 percent of the people are not only against the regime, they have a very, very pro-Western approach,' he said. 'So it will be relatively easy for these people to create a real distinguished and successful society again, but only after they manage to get rid of the existing regime.' The hope for Israel may be that regime change would look less like Iraq after 2003 or Libya after 2011 than Syria after last year's overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Though that hasn't quite ushered in complete peace or democracy, there's been far less instability and bloodshed than many feared following the fall of one of the world's most repressive regimes. On the other hand, that outcome came only after a 13-year war that killed more than half a million people and resulted in one of the world's largest refugee crises and the rise of ISIS. Ali Vaez, Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, said a more realistic outcome might look more like either Syria after the initial uprising of 2011, or Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War. 'You might have a weakened central government that loses control over some parts of its territory, but the regime itself will be entrenched, and even if it's decaying,' he said. None of these outcomes are foreordained. Trump's stance on the war has shifted on a dime in recent days and could shift again. Trump's restraint-oriented advisers may have lost some influence, but wealthy governments across the Persian Gulf and major oil companies may also be wary about a long war that could put them in the crosshairs. Trump has traditionally been more comfortable with short, overwhelming military actions — like the Soleimani strike, or the strikes against Syria in 2017 — than long, drawn-out wars, which this very well could become. 'It could be years of instability, and by the time he leaves the White House, that war would not be over,' said Alex Vatanka, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. 'All I can tell you is that this regime is hated by its people, but also that the US and Israel don't have a good track record in nation building.'

Kurdistan's Interior Minister: Iran border threat eliminated
Kurdistan's Interior Minister: Iran border threat eliminated

Shafaq News

time16-04-2025

  • Politics
  • Shafaq News

Kurdistan's Interior Minister: Iran border threat eliminated

Shafaq News/ Iranian Kurdish opposition groups no longer pose a military or security threat along the shared border, Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed stated on Wednesday. Ahmed confirmed to reporters that the joint high committee established by Iran, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region had completed its mandate, emphasizing that bilateral relations have now reached a 'constructive and advanced stage.' Addressing concerns over Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, he noted that 'appropriate measures' had been taken and 'these forces no longer represent a security or military threat along the shared border.' In September 2023, the joint high committee overseeing the implementation of the Iraq-Iran security agreement announced the complete evacuation of camps and headquarters belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region, in preparation for reclassifying them as refugees. The disarmament deadline under the Iraq-Iran security pact expired on September 19, 2023. Iranian officials had earlier threatened military action against the groups if Baghdad failed to implement the terms. About Kurdish Iranian Opposition The Iranian Kurdish opposition comprises various political and armed movements advocating for Kurdish rights, many of which have been based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Below is a summary of the key groups: • Kurdi stan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI): Founded in 1945, led by Mustafa Hijri • Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan: Founded in 1969, led by Abdullah Mohtadi • Khabat (Or ganization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle): Founded in 1980, led by Babashekh Hosseini • Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK): Founded in 1991, led by Hussein Yazdanpanah • Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK): Founded in 2004, led by Siamand Moeini and Zilan Vejin Iran has also launched cross-border strikes targeting their facilities, with operations by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) involving missiles and drones. Tehran has accused these groups of contributing to unrest within its borders. Earlier, the Kurdistan Regional Government stated that it does not permit any group to use its territory to threaten neighboring states.

It's a Mistake to Leave Human Rights Out of Iran Talks
It's a Mistake to Leave Human Rights Out of Iran Talks

New York Times

time12-04-2025

  • Politics
  • New York Times

It's a Mistake to Leave Human Rights Out of Iran Talks

When the Islamic Republic of Iran marked its 46th anniversary in February, protests erupted in the remote southwestern city of Dehdasht. Iranians chanted anti-regime slogans and held signs reading, 'From Dehdasht to Tehran, unity, unity.' The demonstrations were part of a national movement that has been simmering since 2022, after the killing of a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, prompted tens of thousands of Iranians to take to the streets to seek justice and demand freedom. The Women, Life, Freedom uprising has continued through rooftop chants, daily defiance of the regime's hijab law and sporadic, smaller protests across the country. President Trump should not forget the Iranian people's resolve when his Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, sits down for talks with Iran's foreign minister over its nuclear program on Saturday in Oman. The Trump administration has reinstated a maximum pressure policy designed to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and counter its influence abroad. But so far, the administration has conspicuously omitted a critical issue for Iranians: human rights. It's a stark departure from Trump's first-term agenda, which condemned violations in Iran and framed human rights as a fundamental component of its foreign policy vision. More important, it's a grave miscalculation. Decades of U.S. precedent show that upholding human rights has been integral to helping keep America secure. The Carter and Reagan administrations, in particular, used human rights diplomacy as a critical tool to negotiate with the Soviet Union, using public and private pressure to secure arms control agreements, advocating for oppressed populations behind the Iron Curtain and bringing to a close one of the most dangerous eras of the 20th century. Mr. Trump still has an opportunity — arguably, an obligation — to push for human rights as a central element of talks with Tehran. Doing so would place him on the right side of history, bolster U.S. credibility among many Iranians and strengthen his negotiating position. Without it, many Iranians who oppose the Islamic republic will see any potential agreement as merely throwing a lifeline to an increasingly unpopular regime. Uprisings are bound to persist amid heavy repression. Without accountability, justice and improvement in the human-rights situation, these waves will almost certainly cause instability in Iran and the region. Protests that erupted in December 2017 — at the time, the most widespread geographically since the 1979 revolution — sparked waves of uprisings against the regime's mismanagement, corruption and repression. According to the U.N. Human Rights Council's Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, human-rights violations during the 2022 uprising amounted to crimes against humanity: Security forces killed at least 551 protesters and bystanders, including 68 children, and arrested as many as 60,000. Since then, the clerical establishment has continued to discriminate against women and girls, in what Iranian activists and human-rights defenders — including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is on furlough from a more than 13-year prison sentence — call gender apartheid. A draconian hijab and chastity bill passed in December imposes still harsher restrictions on women; penalties now include death. While the law has been paused, parts are being enforced. The Islamic republic also continues its longstanding use of executions to instill fear, particularly among minority groups such as the Kurds and Baluchis, as exemplified by the risk of execution of Pakhshan Azizi, Sharifeh Mohammadi and Verisheh Moradi. At least 901 people were executed last year — the most in a decade in Iran and the most per capita globally. In an environment where authorities act with impunity, families of the victims of protest crackdowns, prisoners and dissidents don't have the right to seek justice. If they demand it, they face reprisals through state harassment and prison sentences, such as with Manouchehr Bakhtiari and Nahid Shirbisheh, the parents of the slain protester Pouya Bakhtiari. Nearly every American president in the past half-century has recognized that human rights and national security are inextricable — even if merely through statements. The Carter administration attempted to center human rights in its foreign policy, ultimately with uneven application and mixed results, including in Iran. The Reagan administration advocated an aggressive policy grounded in military and moral strength against the Soviet Union, with human rights forming the heart of that moral stance. The Reagan administration continued Carter-era support of Poland's anti-Communist Solidarity movement, which emerged in 1980, and monitored Soviet compliance with human-rights provisions of international agreements, including the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. Unlike Jimmy Carter, who saw human rights as a goal in its own right, Ronald Reagan took a conservative approach, wielding human rights as a Cold War weapon against Communism. As a result, while the administration attacked Communist governments' human-rights records, it supported anti-Communist authoritarian regimes that violated human rights in regions like Latin America. Mr. Reagan also embraced a more narrow definition of human rights, focusing primarily on religious freedom and civil and political rights violated by the U.S.S.R. Still, his efforts increased global pressure on the Soviet Union and emboldened dissidents in the Eastern bloc. Although U.S. support for authoritarian governments elsewhere was highly problematic, the Reagan administration's human-rights diplomacy proved successful in the Eastern bloc. When Mikhail Gorbachev took power in 1985, he and his advisers recognized that improving their human-rights record was necessary for advancing negotiations with the United States and the West. Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev went on to hold talks on nuclear weapons limitations that culminated in the signing of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty — a diplomatic win for Mr. Reagan. Just two years later, the Solidarity movement toppled Poland's Communist government, triggering a wave of mostly peaceful revolutions across Eastern Europe that rolled back Communism and contributed to the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Though the end of the Cold War had multiple causes, U.S. pressure on human rights was indisputably a critical factor. Of course, Iran and Soviet Union differ ideologically and in the types and scale of their human-rights violations, especially regarding the oppression of women. But Cold War policy precedent nevertheless offers useful lessons for the Trump administration. U.S. negotiators have a range of issues they can use as leverage, as outlined by the recommendations in the March 2025 report of the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, such as demanding the release of political prisoners, ending abusive and punitive hijab-related practices and imposing a death penalty moratorium. Human rights, of course, are not simply bargaining chips. They are the bedrock of any meaningful and lasting diplomatic effort. When the United States firmly stands with the Iranian people in their pursuit of accountability and positive change, it builds good will and credibility — not only among Iranians but also among America's allies in the region, which have common concerns over security and stability. As the first Trump administration itself acknowledged, 'Respect for human rights and democracy also produces peace, stability and prosperity — making it an integral component of U.S. national security.' In the negotiations, the Trump administration must demonstrate it stands with the Iranian people by addressing Iran's atrocious human-rights abuses. Failing to do so risks alienating Iranians and — when they ultimately prevail in their decades-long struggle against the Islamic republic — being remembered in history as the administration that abandoned them.

Kurdish Iranian prisoner faces imminent execution, activists warn
Kurdish Iranian prisoner faces imminent execution, activists warn

Shafaq News

time17-03-2025

  • Politics
  • Shafaq News

Kurdish Iranian prisoner faces imminent execution, activists warn

Shafaq News/ On Monday, human rights activists and political figures raised alarm over the potential execution of Kurdish Iranian political prisoner Verisheh Moradi, detained for over a year and a half. A statement signed by 247 political and civil activists warned that her death sentence could soon be upheld by Iran's Supreme Court and carried out at any moment. Moradi was arrested on August 1, 2023, by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj and later transferred to Tehran's Evin Prison. In November 2024, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced her to death on charges of "armed rebellion against the state" (baghi) due to alleged links with Kurdish opposition groups. According to activists, she spent five months in solitary confinement, enduring "severe psychological and physical pressure" before her sentencing by Judge Abolqasem Salavati. They denounced the trial process, highlighting that "neither she nor her lawyer was allowed to present a defense." Moradi's contributions to women's empowerment in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria were also emphasized, with advocates arguing that her case is a "crackdown on Iranian women's rights, not just an isolated incident." Iran has witnessed a rise in executions, particularly against ethnic minorities and political dissidents. In 2024, at least 31 women were executed, marking the highest number recorded by Iran Human Rights (IHR). Calls for an immediate halt to executions have intensified, with human rights organizations urging Iranian authorities to overturn death sentences against political prisoners and ensure fair trials. The growing crackdown has drawn global scrutiny, as more than 50 Kurdish political detainees and thousands convicted on drug-related charges remain at risk of execution.

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