Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the revocation of lawful permanent resident status for family members tied to Masoumeh Ebtekar, saying they were moved into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody pending removal, after previously receiving visas and green cards through a Diversity Visa route during the Obama years. The action follows public scrutiny over their presence in Los Angeles and petitions calling for review, and it mirrors other recent moves against relatives of Iranian officials. Rubio framed the decision as a matter of national security and principle, arguing that the United States should not be a safe harbor for those connected to anti-American violence. This piece lays out the facts, context, and the Republican view that sovereign borders and accountability matter.
Rubio made clear these family members were linked to a key figure from the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and said their green card status would be revoked. They were placed in ICE custody pending removal, a direct enforcement step that aligns with a firm approach to immigration tied to national security concerns. From a Republican perspective, enforcement is not optional when ties to past terror are at issue.
The timeline Rubio noted points back to visas issued in 2014 and a Diversity Visa Program green card approval in 2016. That combination highlights longstanding questions about the Diversity Visa program and vetting processes under prior administrations. Conservatives have argued for stronger safeguards to prevent those with dangerous associations from gaining permanent residence through lottery-style programs.
“Masoumeh Ebtekar — also known as ‘Screaming Mary’ — was the spokeswoman for the Islamic terrorists who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostages for 444 days — subjecting them to beatings, starvation, and mock executions,” Rubio on X.
Ebtekar later served in an official capacity as vice president for Women and Family Affairs in Iran from 2017 to 2021, a role that demonstrated her ongoing prominence in the Iranian political landscape. PBS’ “Frontline” once described her as “one of the highest-ranking women in the Muslim world” during a 2002 interview, underscoring how visible she has been on the global stage. That public profile feeds the argument that affiliation with such a figure carries implications beyond private-family ties.
Recent reporting showed photographs of Ebtekar’s son, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, appearing at a Los Angeles gym and living in Agoura Hills with his wife, psychology professor Maryam Tahmasebi. Those images stirred protests and prompted multiple petitions urging an investigation and deportation, with some of the petitions reviewed by the hosting platform. For many Americans, seeing relatives of someone linked to a brutal chapter in history living comfortably here struck a raw nerve and reinforced calls for action.
https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2042961146307547296
The move on Ebtekar’s relatives did not happen in isolation; similar steps were taken against relatives of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in recent days. That pattern signals a concerted enforcement posture aimed at ensuring that family relationships to hostile actors do not translate into permanent residency or sanctuary. Republicans will say consistent enforcement is the only honest way to protect citizens and honor the victims of past attacks.
For conservatives, this is about more than paperwork and status checks; it is about who gets to call America home and under what conditions. Revoking lawful permanent resident status for those tied to anti-American violence is a clear message: national security trumps bureaucratic softness. The expectation is simple and unapologetic—America will not be a refuge for those who have benefited from terror or supported it.
