In its latest crackdown against illegal immigration, federal agents arrested 11 Iranian foreign nationals in 48 hours, including one watchlisted individual — part of a series of targeted operations spanning eight states and nine cities nationwide.
Among those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Sunday, June 22, is Mehran Makari Sahel, at his home near St. Paul, Minnesota. ICE officials say Sahel is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite a branch of Iran’s armed forces. They said the detainee has “admitted connections to Hezbollah,” a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization backed by Iran.
ICE said that five of those arrested possessed previous criminal convictions ranging from grand larceny to drug and firearm possessions.
The Department of Homeland Security says Yousef Mehridehno had been living in America illegally for nearly 8 years when federal authorities determined he lied on a visa application. Roughly four months after the Iranian foreign national was added to the U.S. known or suspected terrorist list in February, he was apprehended by federal agents Sunday in central Mississippi, just outside of Jackson.
Officials have not linked these arrests to any specific terrorism plots and the Department of Homeland Security has stated that there are no current, credible threats to the U.S. homeland, despite a heightened security environment following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.
But all 11 Iranians have been charged or accused of crimes beyond civil immigration violations, according to ICE officials, who say the arrested men represent a threat to public safety.
While arresting Ribvar Karmi in northern Alabama on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security says federal agents found an Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card on his person. According to ICE officials, Karimi purportedly served as an Iranian Army sniper from 2018 to 2021 and entered the U.S. in October 2024 on a K-1 visa, reserved for migrants engaged to be married to American citizens. Karmi is now detained in ICE custody, where officials say he will remain pending removal proceedings.
In addition to the 11 Iranian nationals who were arrested, federal agents have also arrested U.S. citizen Linet Vartaniann, who was taken into custody on federal charges of threatening a law enforcement officer and harboring an illegal alien. ICE officials contend the woman threatened to open fire if immigration enforcement officers entered her home. According to ICE, the defendant threatened federal agents during an encounter on Sunday, warning she would go outside and “shoot officers in the head.”
ICE officials tell CBS News that the arrests since Sunday are part of the Trump administration’s latest crackdown on illegal immigration. Federal officials have aimed to dramatically ramp up immigration arrests, with average daily arrests climbing from 660 in President Trump’s first 100 days to 1,200 in June — and the White House says its target is 3,000 arrests per day.
“We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out — and we are,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News. “We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
According to U.S. government data, last fiscal year, 68 Iranian foreign nationals were arrested by ICE — including 47 with criminal convictions. ICE arrested some 113,000 people in total over that period, most of whom were from Mexico or Central America.
This weekend, the Department of Homeland Security activated its National Terrorism Advisory System just hours after the United States’ attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. The strikes came after a days-long Israeli campaign against Iran, resulting in Iranian attacks on Israel — though Mr. Trump said Monday the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire.
Current and former intelligence officials caution that America is on high alert for physical or cyber retaliation, telling CBS News that there is a growing concern about the potential for homegrown extremism, including lone attacks inspired by Iranian calls to violence.
On Monday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters that homeland security officials are trying to “get in front of” threats to the U.S. by “working with our local governors and law enforcement to make sure that they recognize potential threats or suspicious activities.”
Probed on reports of potential Hezbollah sleeper cells, the secretary said only that the U.S. has seen “some [that have] gone overseas for a short period of time, become radicalized and come back.” She added, “We have to watch for all of it, and to be diligent on all of it, and we’ll continue to do so.”
