According to a CBS News report, nearly a dozen Iranian nationals have been swept up in ICE raids over the past 48 hours — including one watchlisted individual.
The ICE crackdown was 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 Saheli, at his home near St. Paul, Minnesota. ICE officials say Saheli is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite 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.
From CBS News:
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.
Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins shared more on X.
NEW: @ICEgov arrested 11 Iranian nationals illegally in the U.S. over the weekend including an individual with admitted ties to Hezbollah and a former Iranian Army Sniper…
DHS Asst Sec @TriciaOhio says, “Under Secretary 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”
NEW: @ICEgov arrested 11 Iranian nationals illegally in the U.S. over the weekend including an individual with admitted ties to Hezbollah and a former Iranian Army Sniper…
DHS Asst Sec @TriciaOhio says, “Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and…
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) June 24, 2025
🚨JUST ANNOUNCED: ICE arrested 11 Iranian nationals in the last 48 hours who were in the U.S. illegally, including a former member of the IRGC with ties to Hezbollah. pic.twitter.com/bl1jeNukce
— AJ Huber (@Huberton) June 24, 2025
Border agents were warned after the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites Saturday night to look out for possible Iranian terrorist “sleeper cells,” according to a leaked memo obtained by The Post.
More over at CBS News:
ICE arrests 11 Iranian nationals in 48 hours https://t.co/GNXESV3EVw
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) June 24, 2025
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