ICE has arrested 130 Iranian nationals across the U.S. in the last 7 days amid security concern

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 130 Iranian nationals across the United States over the past week, and 670 Iranian nationals are currently in ICE custody, as the Trump administration ramps up enforcement targeting Iranian citizens in the country illegally, citing heightened national security concerns.

Federal sources confirmed the figures, as both administration officials and security analysts have raised alarms over the potential activation of sleeper cells or domestic retaliatory threats in the wake of recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“The presence in this country of undocumented migrants or Iranian nationals who have links to Hezbollah or the IRGC is, in my judgment, a domestic law enforcement concern of the highest magnitude,” said Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama, during an interview on Fox & Friends.

The border crisis under the Biden administration, which saw millions of undocumented migrants enter the U.S., has further fueled national security concerns.

“We don’t know who they are, where they came from, or why they’re here,” said Tom Homan, the Trump-appointed border czar, last week. “This is the biggest national security vulnerability we’ve ever seen.”

Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey added that the current situation is “definitely” more dangerous.

“One major issue is that the previous administration didn’t conduct meaningful vetting,” Fahey said.
“And with an estimated 2 million known ‘gotaways’ during the last administration—people who entered illegally through non-ports of entry and were never apprehended—we have no idea who some of them are.”

ICE officials confirmed that some of those arrested have criminal records, including charges related to drug trafficking, weapons offenses, and domestic violence.