The White House announced it is reviewing the immigration status of several Iranians who received benefits under the previous administration. The focus is on people connected to Iran’s ruling elite. The administration is responding to viral online petitions calling for the deportation of relatives of high-ranking Iranian officials currently living in America.
One of the most talked-about cases involves Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, daughter of Ali Larijani, a major Iranian official who serves as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. While Ardeshir-Larijani works as a cancer doctor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, her father has been making anti-American statements.
According to the New York Post, her father recently posted on social media that President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were “the main killers of the people of Iran.” More than 41,000 people have signed a petition asking President Trump to deport her.
The contradiction of benefits granted to Iranian elite families
Ardeshir-Larijani received her green card in 2021 under the Biden administration, according to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. McLaughlin confirmed that the Trump Administration is “reviewing all immigration benefits granted under former Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern including Iran.”
Another person facing scrutiny is Eissa Hashemi, 43, who lives in California. He is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, known as “Screaming Mary,” who was the spokeswoman for militants who stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Those militants held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
People behind the petitions argue it is unacceptable for senior members of Iran’s ruling class to live here while ordinary Iranians face brutal crackdowns from that same regime. This immigration review comes as the administration has also been making controversial pardon decisions that have raised questions about timing and motivation.
Mersedeh Shahinkar, an Iranian mother in California who lost her right eye to a bullet during a 2021 protest in Iran, praised the White House for taking action. Shahinkar explained that the Iranian diaspora is angry and disappointed that children of a regime that “stripped them of their freedom are allowed to live freely in the US,” often with access to wealth possibly tied to “laundered regime funds.”
She pointed out that Iran and its senior officials are designated by the US government as state sponsors of terrorism. Shahinkar added that even though no “sanctionable conduct is alleged against their immediate family members, their residence and financial access without proper scrutiny raise legitimate national security and public trust concerns.”
The White House has been busy with various diplomatic matters, including accepting a Nobel Peace Prize from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in a recent ceremony. The Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, where Ardeshir-Larijani works, said employees are hired “in full compliance with applicable state and federal laws” and their focus remains on advancing patient care, research, and teaching.
Published: Jan 17, 2026 01:45 pm