New Orleans resident of 47 years and suburban Jackson man detained in Mississippi amid nationwide ICE crackdown on Iranian nationals
Federal immigration agents claim Iranian immigrants targeted in ICE arrests have terrorist ties, but friends and family members counter that a 64-year-old woman in New Orleans and an unrelated Madison, Mississippi man were living quiet, productive lives and have no connection to terrorism. The two were swept up in a series of arrests of Iranian immigrants following President Donald Trump’s unilateral bombing of the Middle Eastern country.
Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian, who has lived legally in the United States for 47 years and has no criminal record, was handcuffed outside her Lakeview, Louisiana home as she gardened, according to a NOLA.com report. Agents arrived in three unmarked vehicles, placed her in the back of a pickup truck and transported her across state lines to Hancock County, Mississippi, where she spent the night in jail before being moved to a federal immigration detention center in Basile, Louisiana.
Kashanian’s arrest followed a string of detentions involving 11 Iranian nationals in Mississippi and across the country. A federal press release confirmed the arrests, including of a reported former Iranian army sniper in Alabama and a man recently listed on a terrorism watch list arrested in central Mississippi. Authorities say the arrests are part of a broader effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ramp up enforcement under the president’s controversial immigration crackdown.
“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,” the release quoted Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin saying. “We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out -- and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
In Kashanian's case, family members say she had complied with all legal requirements to remain in the country, including regular immigration check-ins under a stay of removal granted after her asylum claim was denied decades ago.
“As long as she was reporting and abiding by the rules of this stay, we thought she would be able to, you know, live here in New Orleans with no problem,” her husband, Russ Milne, told NOLA.com.
Kashanian’s detention came less than 24 hours after U.S. airstrikes hit Iranian nuclear facilities, escalating regional tensions. Although federal officials have not directly linked her arrest to those strikes, the timing has alarmed her family.
“We think what precipitated this action was, obviously, the events in the Middle East,” Milne said.
From New Orleans, ICE agents moved Kashanian through Mississippi and into a for-profit facility in Louisiana. The agency has increased its use of county jails and contracted detention centers across the country to house immigrants facing removal proceedings.
ICE has not commented on Kashanian’s arrest but the statement from DHS celebrated the roundup of the 11 Iranian nationals over the weekend, calling the arrests a commitment to “keeping known and suspected terrorists out of American communities.”
Among those arrested in Mississippi was Yousef Mehridehno, a former legal resident whose residency was terminated in 2017 after he allegedly lied on his original visa application and committed potential marriage fraud, according to the DHS release. ICE listed him as a “known or suspected terrorist” in February 2025. Friends and members of his church community described Mehridehno as a devoted Christian and caring neighbor, according to local reporting.
“Well, I can’t believe it,” Ted Clark, a friend of Mehridehno’s in Madison, told WLBT news. “It is absurd that they think Joseph [Yousef] is a terrorist.”
Of the federal allegations against Mehridehno, “Those are definitely not true,” another of Mehridehno’s friends, Alice Cook, told WLBT. “I’ve never seen Joseph do anything that would be declared unlawful, a threat, never.”
A third friend, Cindey Coon, told the TV station, “I realize that ICE has a directive, and they are trying to do their job, but you would think there would be some evidence before they go arrest somebody, and there is not.”
Kashanian, who arrived on a student visa in 1978, had built a stable life in New Orleans. She married Milne, a U.S. citizen, in 1990, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity after Hurricane Katrina, and raised a daughter.
“She’s always worked, she’s had a driver’s license, she has a Social Security card, she’s paid taxes,” daughter Kaitlynn Milne, 32, told NOLA.com. “She’s about to qualify for Medicare. She’s been a contribution to the community for her whole life.”
Kashanian’s father worked as an engineer for the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran before revolutionaries toppled his regime. Russ said that Kashanian feared retribution if she were forced to return to Iran.
Her arrest may also have been illegal, according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit, Washington D.C.-based organization focused on immigration law and policy.
“By law, an order of supervision can only be revoked by an ICE field office director, which likely did not happen here,” he said on social media platform X. “She is also supposed to be given a right to challenge that decision, which seems not to have happened.”
Reichlin-Melnick added that Kashanian was “obviously not a threat,” and said it was highly likely that she was detained because she is Iranian. He claimed the Trump administration “wants to seem like it’s cracking down on Iranians right now, given Trump’s military action.”
Homero López, a New Orleans-based immigration attorney and former immigration judge, told NOLA.com that the detention reflects a growing shift under Trump toward individuals who, although previously granted stays of removal, had been fully cooperating with the government. “Those cases are low-hanging fruit as they seek to meet Trump’s quotas,” he said.
Kashanian’s New Orleans city council representative, Joe Giarrusso, criticized her detention. “Someone living here with the federal government’s full knowledge and approval for nearly 50 years is hardly public enemy number one,” he said. “This should not happen.”
“We’re extremely scared,” Kashanian’s husband said.
Image: A fence with barbed wire atop it (via Jamie Taylor/Unsplash)
Well I hope the persons arrested were taken as a precautionary measure with regard to possible terrorism and not because they maybe low hanging fruit for ICE quotas. Not likely that the 64 Year-old-woman is a threat.