Pastor Ara Torosian was at home on Tuesday when he received a panicked phone call from two Iranian members of his Farsi-speaking congregation in Los Angeles: U.S. federal immigration officers were at their residence to arrest them, he told Reuters.
It was the second distressing call he had received that week.
A day earlier, another Iranian couple with a 3-year-old child was detained during a routine immigration appointment, Torosian said.
Both families had recently arrived in the United States as asylum-seekers, entering through the U.S.-Mexico border after securing appointments via the CBP One system—a process launched under President Joe Biden to facilitate orderly crossings. President Donald Trump ended the program shortly after taking office as part of his broader crackdown on immigration.
When Torosian arrived at the home on Tuesday, he described seeing “an army” of federal law enforcement officers. He began filming with his cellphone as agents stopped him from approaching his church members.
As officers restrained the woman, Torosian said she suffered a panic attack and began convulsing on the floor.
According to Torosian, the couple had fled religious persecution in Iran.
In a statement posted to X, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that two Iranian nationals were detained in Los Angeles on Tuesday after being flagged for national security concerns. The agency said the woman was transported to a hospital but was later released and both individuals remain in immigration custody.
The arrests followed U.S. military strikes early Sunday on three Iranian nuclear facilities, escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran. In a separate release on Tuesday, DHS said it had apprehended 11 Iranians over the weekend who were in the U.S. unlawfully.
Although Iran does not accept deportees from the United States, the Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport migrants to third countries without offering them the chance to present evidence of the dangers they could face there.
