Hooshang Aghdassi, a Studio City business owner from Los Angeles, says his wife, Sharareh Moghadam, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) shortly after completing her U.S. citizenship exam and attending a scheduled immigration appointment.

Moghadam, an Iranian national and legal U.S. resident, was awaiting her naturalization ceremony when she was taken into custody and transferred to a detention facility in Phoenix.

"She had green card and passed exam for citizenship and was waiting for the ceremony," Aghdassi told NBC Los Angeles. "She is not a bank robber or thief or criminal."

Newsweek contacted the Department for Homeland Security for comment on Monday morning.

Why It Matters

Moghadam's case follows a pattern of increased immigration enforcement d

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