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Iranian Americans are demanding that the Trump administration immediately remove “Screaming Mary’s” son and his family from the United States, arguing that taxpayers should not be footing the bill for their months-long stay in ICE detention.
More than four months after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated the lawful permanent resident status of three relatives of notorious Iranian regime figure Masoumeh Ebtekar, the family remains in the United States as they spend large sums on lawyers fighting their removal.
The family even used a brazen GoFundMe campaign to raise more than $40,000 to aid they fight after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards in April 2026.
Seyed Eissa Hashemi — Ebtekar’s son — his wife, Maryam Tahmasebi, and their teenage son were arrested by federal agents in April.
The campaign was shut down after outrage in the American Iranian community.
They have remained in ICE custody in Texas pending removal.
Ebtekar, infamously nicknamed “Screaming Mary,” was the English-language spokeswoman for the Islamist militants who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. She later rose through the Iranian regime to serve as a vice president.
Tahmasebi described her detention as “hell” in an essay published by The Nation earlier this month.
Now the Institute for Voices of Liberty (IVOL), an organization advocating for a free Iran, has launched a petition demanding that the administration bring the case to a “prompt, lawful and transparent resolution” and reveal how much the prolonged detention is costing taxpayers.
The petition, “Protect America from the Influence of Iran’s Authoritarian Regime,” has attracted almost 14,000 signatures.
“This is a matter of national security, government transparency, and the consistent enforcement of American law,” IVOL said.
“Americans deserve national-security decisions that are lawful, transparent, and carried through without unnecessary delay.”
The group points to Section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides grounds for removing a foreign national when the Secretary of State determines that their presence or activities could have potentially serious adverse foreign-policy consequences for the United States.
The family has challenged the government’s action and remains embroiled in legal proceedings.
IVOL stressed that it respects the family’s right to fight the case.
“We respect due process and the authority of the courts,” the organization said.
“We also believe Americans deserve clear information about the status of these cases and the government’s broader review of individuals with material connections to senior officials and institutions of the Islamic Republic.”
The petition calls on President Donald Trump, Rubio, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and the Justice Department to complete the proceedings, explain any legal barriers holding them up and disclose the cost to taxpayers of keeping the family detained.
The new push comes after Iranian dissidents blasted a GoFundMe campaign set up to support the family.
The fundraiser had collected nearly $40,000 before being taken down over the weekend following complaints from anti-regime Iranians.
Among the family’s most outspoken critics is Raheleh Amiri, an Iranian dissident who lost an eye after being shot by Iranian security forces during anti-regime protests.
Amiri told the California Post that Ebtekar’s involvement in the 1979 hostage crisis went far beyond simply acting as a translator, as Tahmasebi sought to portray it in her essay for The Nation.
Amiri also contrasted the family’s access to the American legal system with the brutal treatment faced by dissidents inside Iran.
Iranian activist Mersedeh Shahinkar, who also lost an eye after being shot during a 2022 anti-hijab protest and now lives in California, urged her Instagram followers to sign the petition.
She said that “residence, immediate family members, and financial access without proper scrutiny raise legitimate national security and public trust concerns.”
IVOL said its campaign is not aimed at Iranian Americans or people who fled the Islamic Republic.
Instead, it is calling for scrutiny of cases involving people it says have “material connections” to senior Iranian officials or institutions — and demanding answers about why the Hashemi family’s case remains unresolved.
“Americans deserve national-security decisions that are lawful, transparent, and carried through without unnecessary delay,” the petition says.
English (US)