A Los Angeles family spent months in an immigration detention center in Texas, fighting a never-ending battle against the U.S. government — not for something they did, but because of who they’re related to.
The mother wrote a letter highlighting what her lawyers are calling “bloodline punishment.” They say they haven’t seen a case like this where a couple and their son were detained for something that their relative did before any of them were even born.
The husband’s mother was a spokesperson for the group that took Americans hostage during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. The state department is using that connection to detain the family for more than 120 days.
“We are in tremendous pain and have been trapped in an unendurable, unending nightmare,” family friend Jacob Hart said, reading a letter written by Maryam Tahmasebi that was published in online magazine The Nation.
“Imagine that you are an independent woman wading through the waters of sexism and patriarchy every day, and then you are told that not only do your own ideas and academic achievements not matter, but you are somehow now responsible for decisions you never made, and for things that happened before you were even born,” the letter continued.
Maryam, a professor at Los Angeles Pierce College, her husband Eissa, who is also an educator, and their 16-year-old son — all permanent residents of the U.S. — were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April, and their green cards were revoked.
Maryam and her son were taken to the Dilley detention center in Texas, while her husband is being held at another nearby facility. Maryam and her son are only able to speak to Eissa over the phone for 10 minutes every two weeks.
“What struck me was this seemed to be the first time that the foreign policy ground was being used to target people based not on any conduct of theirs whatsoever, but based solely on family relationship,” immigration lawyer and advocate Hassan Ahmad said.
Maryam and Eissa’s lawyers say the family was detained because Eissa is the son of a woman, who at 19 years old was a spokesperson for a group of university students who held citizens hostage 47 years ago during the Islamic Revolution.
“At no point has a state department or has the government once offered any evidence that this family poses a viable actual threat to national security,” human rights attorney Maria Kari said. “In America, we do not punish people for who they’re related to.”
But the family’s lawyers say this is exactly what is happening, and it appears to have started with an online campaign to get them removed, which got the attention of state officials, including Leo Terrell, who works for the U.S. Department of Justice and tagged Secretary of State Marco Rubio just days before the family was detained.
“All this misinformation, disinformation campaign collectively led to getting the attention of some high-level official at the State Department who then flagged it for the likes of Rubio, resulting in this so-called Rubio determination that they pose a threat to our foreign policy,” Kari said.
Loved ones say Eissa and Maryam are hardworking, caring people.
“She teaches all of our classes. There isn’t a single subject she won’t teach,” said Dr. Jennifer Moses, chair of psychology, addiction, study and statistics at Pierce College. “So she just shows up. She shows up for the community. She shows up for her colleagues and shows up for her students.”
After months in detention, the family did offer to voluntarily depart the country, but they were denied “at this time.”
“She said, ‘We love this country, but we understand it doesn’t love us back, so that’s fine. We’re not fighters. We’ll go. Just let us go, and they’re refusing,'” Ahmad said.
The family says they don’t know how much longer they can take living separate and in limbo. The conditions at the detention center, they say, are unbearable.
“There’s black mold everywhere. There’s bugs everywhere. The water is not potable. I mean, this is now the story of each and every one of these prisons around the country, right?” Kari said. “This is not specific to Dilly, but this is also the story of this young family.”
Lawyers say the entire ordeal has been emotionally destabilizing for the couple’s teenage son because the detention center is not supposed to house children for this long.
Their son, writing to his attorneys, said that he wishes he could have more contact with his friends.
“He’s now been there, I think six times the length of the allowable length, but this is what happens,” Ahmad said.
Loved ones and the family’s lawyers are now trying to bring attention to what they say is a grave injustice, hoping that if enough people care to write their senators and share this story, then maybe this family and others like them will get the due process they deserve.
“At some point, it has to stop. At some point, there needs to be a line that says, ‘OK, we’re not going to sink to the level of collective punishment or bloodline punishment,'” Ahmad said. “This is the kind of stuff that happens in countries like Iran.”
The Department of Homeland Security sent NBC Los Angeles the following statement regarding this case:
“All detainees have claims heard and receive due process.
“ICE arrested Eissa Seyed Hashemi, his wife Maryam Tahmasebi, and their minor son in Los Angeles, California. Eissa Seyed Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, an Iranian regime politician who also acted as a spokesperson during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979. ICE law enforcement officers successfully apprehended all three individuals whose presence in the United States posed a clear threat to our national security and foreign policy.
“On September 1, 2014, Hashemi entered the U.S. at the San Francisco International Airport on a F-1 student visa. In 2016, Hashemi, his wife, and son became green card holders. It is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America. If we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the U.S., the green card will be revoked.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States will not be a safe haven for those who threaten our security or undermine our foreign policy.”