With bombs falling on Tehran and protests being met with deadly force inside Iran, a group of Democratic lawmakers is sounding the alarm over what they say is a dangerous gap in U.S. policy, one that could force Iranian nationals living in America straight into harm's way.
Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) is leading the charge alongside Senator Edward Markey (D-MA).
Together, they rallied four other Senate Democrats, Cory Booker (D-NJ), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), to sign a formal letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow, and acting USCIS Director Todd Lyons, demanding immediate protections for Iranians currently residing in the United States.
The timing couldn't be more urgent, according to the letter.
Earlier this year, Iranian security forces violently suppressed nationwide protests, with one U.S.-based human rights organization confirming at least 7,000 civilian deaths in just two days.
The State Department has Iran listed at Level 4, its highest possible warning, citing terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, and the risk of wrongful detention of American citizens.
What the Letter is Requiring
The letter argues the administration has a direct responsibility given recent events. "Having initiated the current war with Iran, the Trump administration bears a moral and humanitarian responsibility to provide Iranian nationals with an immediate shield from removal," the lawmakers wrote.
At the same time, the lawmakers argue, the Trump administration has been moving in the opposite direction. Two policy memos issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in late 2025 quietly froze routine immigration processing for Iranian nationals, leaving students, workers, and long-term residents unable to renew work permits, apply for green cards, or pursue citizenship.
An estimated 2,500 Iranians currently face the threat of deportation, a number the letter suggests is growing.
Rep. Ansari and her colleagues are calling on the administration to halt all removal flights to Iran and designate Iranians for Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure, humanitarian tools designed for exactly these circumstances.
Additionally, the letter poses nine pointed questions to administration officials, pressing them to justify current policies and provide data on how many Iranians have been affected, with a deadline of May 6, 2026, for written responses.
Nearly 12,000 Iranian international students are currently studying across the country, and the broader Iranian diaspora in the United States numbers more than half a million people.
