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EXCLUSIVE: A top Republican moved Thursday to block asylum claims from foreigners who return to their home countries, introducing legislation after family members of deceased Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem Soleimani were found to be living in Los Angeles.
Soleimani’s niece, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, and her daughter were arrested by ICE last weekend, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted Afshar’s “outspoken support [for] the Iranian regime” and DHS reporting that her 2019 asylum claim was fraudulent, due in part to several trips back to the country she purported to flee.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., who is also running for the GOP nomination for governor of the Badger State, echoed DHS’ characterization of Afshar’s asylum claim as fraudulent in introducing the SAFER Act, or the “Stopping Asylum Fraudsters Enforcement and Removal Act.”
Tiffany said the bill ensures the federal asylum system is reserved only for foreigners with legitimate claims of persecution.
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IRGC Commander Qassem Soleimani participates in a meeting with leaders in Tehran.a (Press office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei/Getty Images)
The secretary of Homeland Security and the attorney general would be prohibited from granting asylum to anyone who returns to their home country, while also being empowered to terminate asylum status and denaturalize asylees who voluntarily return while living in the U.S.
“If someone claims they are fleeing danger and seeking asylum in the U.S., they should not be turning around and vacationing in the very country they said they had to escape,” Tiffany told Fox News Digital.
“Those who are truly fleeing danger don’t book round-trip tickets back to it.”
Afshar was granted asylum in 2019 during the first Trump administration and was later given a Green Card by the Biden administration, despite returning to Iran at least four times in the interim.
Under the bill, an asylee could legally return to their home country without risk of federal consequences only if the State Department certifies that a legitimate transfer of power has occurred and the original threat prompting that person’s asylum claim has been resolved.
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Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., cheers as Donald Trump is announced as the winner of Wisconsin’s electoral college votes during a joint session of Congress in the House chamber on Monday, January 6, 2025 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)
In the case that a migrant or asylee has no nationality, their claim will be analyzed based on their most recent “habitual residence.”
“The SAFER Act stops asylum fraudsters from exploiting the system and ensures they are removed from the United States,” Tiffany said.
Earlier this month, the State Department terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of a former senior Iranian official, and her husband.
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Both are no longer in the U.S. and are barred from reentry.
Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
