On that Sunday morning, Madonna “Donna” Kashanian, a 64-year-old Iranian-American, found herself in an untenable situation. In 2008, immigration agents detained her while she was tending her yard outside her home in New Orleans. Though Kashanian has lived in the US for 47 years, she carries an Iranian passport. Earlier this month on the eve of this needed ordinance going into effect, plainclothes officers arrested her using unmarked vehicles, triggering panic in her home city.
As a young woman entering graduate school, Kashanian’s life in the U.S. started in 1978 on a student visa. In her teens, she relocated to New Orleans and has built a life there for the last forty-plus years. She settled into her new home and became an engaged local citizen, cooking Persian dishes on YouTube and getting involved in her daughters’ schools. Though her roots in the city run deep, Kashanian’s immigration status has been unstable for years.
Kashanian had first fled to apply for asylum. She was afraid of being persecuted due to her father’s connections with the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran. Her efforts to change her immigration status faced a lot of resistance. She wanted to obtain permanent residency, so she did the thing that many migrants do — she married a U.S. citizen. The government rejected her application based on a previous marriage that they found to be fraudulent. This put her in a precarious position as it pertained to her immigration status.
After her detention, Kashanian was initially transported to an unknown Black site jail in Mississippi. She was subsequently moved to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. She has lived in the United States her entire life with no criminal record. Her lack of any criminal record adds to the absurdity of her detention.
Kashanian remains in ICE custody. Her family continues to worry about her health as a result of her detention and the harmful effects of her detention. The circumstances surrounding her arrest have sparked discussions about immigration policies and their impact on individuals who have built lives in the United States over many years.