Maryam Tahmasebi and her teenage son have been held in the Dilley Detention Center in Texas for five months, alongside other women and children, with no charges or evidence of wrongdoing. They are being detained due to a provision added to the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1990, which allows the secretary of state to designate a noncitizen as deportable if their presence leads to "serious adverse foreign policy consequences." The key figure behind this decision is Marco Rubio, who determined that the family's presence poses a grave threat to national security. However, the article suggests that Rubio's decision is actually based on the actions of Maryam's mother-in-law, Masoumeh Ebtekar, who was involved in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis and held positions within the Iranian regime.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
MOST PARENTS HAVE STRAIGHTFORWARD IDEAS for what to give their teenaged son for his birthday: a pair of new sneakers, or headphones, or a game to play on his Xbox.
asserted
PARENTS → have → Xbox
She just wants her son to be able to celebrate outside the detention center our country has trapped them in.
asserted
country → want → them
Her aspirations for him have been reduced to this.
asserted
aspirations → reduce → this
She just wants him to be free.
asserted
him → want → ?
For five months, Tahmasebi and her son have been locked in the Dilley Detention Center, along with other women and children held indefinitely in the Texas facility.
asserted
Tahmasebi → lock → facility
Her husband, Eissa, is interned in a separate camp a twenty-minute drive away—not that she ever gets to go there.
asserted
she → intern → camp
They can speak only a few minutes every couple of weeks.
asserted
They → speak → weeks
Eissa, like so many other detainees, has had basic medical treatment denied or delayed.
asserted
treatment → have → detainees
Their capture was the result of Marco Rubio’s decision to draw on a provision added to the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1990 that allows the secretary of state to designate a noncitizen as deportable if their presence leads to “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.
asserted
presence → draw → States
In this case, Rubio determined that the family is such a grave threat to our national security that they must be held captive indefinitely without basic due process rights.
asserted
they → determine → rights
You might imagine that such an extreme measure must have been taken because the family participated in drug smuggling or terrorism.
uncertain
family → imagine → smuggling
Maybe this is a situation where they thought that family was plotting with al Qaeda cells?
asserted
family → think → cells
The government has provided no evidence the detainees pose any threat.
asserted
detainees → provide → threat
They are not accused of any crime.
asserted
They → accuse → crime
None of the family members has even violated any immigration laws.
asserted
None → violate → laws
And Maryam had a pending citizenship application.
asserted
Maryam → have → application
So how could Rubio possibly justify detaining them like this?
uncertain
Rubio → justify → this
How could he rationalize keeping a high school student in a makeshift prison camp that was meant for the “worst of the worst”?
uncertain
that → rationalize → worst
The answer is stupider and more enraging than you could possibly imagine.
uncertain
you → imagine → ?
We are imprisoning Maryam, Eissa, and their teenage son not because they are a threat to national security—but because of something a family member did before any of them were born.
asserted
any → imprison → them
MASOUMEH EBTEKAR, EISSA’S MOTHER, was the spokesperson for the students who stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held fifty-two people hostage for over a year.
asserted
who → storm → year
The American media dubbed her “Screaming Mary” for her frequent appearances before Western media.
asserted
media → dub → media
A “reformist” (the less conservative Iranian political faction), Ebtekar went on to serve the Iranian regime in various high-level government positions and is currently a professor in Tehran.
asserted
Ebtekar → go → Tehran
What does this have to do with the family we are detaining now, though?
asserted
we → have → family
The government has not provided any additional evidence about their alleged threat to national security.
asserted
government → provide → security
In announcing their detention, Rubio tweeted:
Masoumeh Ebtekar - also known as “Screaming Mary” - was the spokeswoman for the Islamic terrorists who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days - subjecting them to beatings, starvation, and mock executions.
asserted
who → announce → beatings
Her family should never have been allowed to benefit from the extraordinary privilege of living in our country.
asserted
family → allow → country
America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families - and under the Trump Administration, it never will.
asserted
it → become → Administration
In other words, these people had a family member who defended people who tortured Americans, so we are going to, in essence, torture them back.
asserted
we → have → them
Just last week, Rubio’s colleague, Vice President JD Vance, inveighed against exactly this sort of guilt-by-relation:
“The idea that because of your genetics, because of your blood, because of your ancestry, you are guilty of a crime you never committed.
asserted
you → inveigh → crime
I think that blood libel . . . is the exact opposite of the Christian gospel.”
asserted
libel → think → gospel
Vance got a lot wrong there, including what the “blood libel” is, but he got one thing right: It is an affront to God and country to punish someone for a crime committed by their ancestors.
asserted
It → get → ancestors
In this country, a place where freedom is supposed to reign and the rule of law is supreme, it is a betrayal of the promise of the founding to punish people based on their bloodline.
asserted
it → suppose → bloodline
It echoes the ugliest parts of our history—from slavery to Japanese internment.
asserted
It → echo → internment
Before you continue, a word from our sponsor: you, hopefully.
asserted
you → continue → sponsor
It’s our Bulwark+ members who make work like this possible.
asserted
work → ’ → this
MARYAM TAHMASEBI DOES NOT WANT to be a public person.
asserted
TAHMASEBI → want → ?
She would rather her story not be told.
asserted
story → tell → ?
She is scared and angry that her son’s name was doxxed by our government and that trolls have attacked him after the Nation first published her story.
asserted
Nation → doxxe → story
But after five months in hell, you get desperate.
asserted
you → get → hell
…and 80 more, not listed.
