Statement of Coalition of Iranian-American Organizations on Border Detentions
We write to share extremely disconcerting news, and to share important information with you regarding new immigration incidents affecting Iranian Americans and Iranians in the U.S. Please read the below carefully and share this information with your friends and family.
NIAC Statement on DHS Investigation into Detentions of Iranian Americans at U.S. Ports of Entry
“On Sunday, January 5, the National Iranian American Council requested that the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties open an investigation into the detainment and questioning of Iranian Americans at the U.S. ports of entry. We are pleased that the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has opened an investigation into CBP’s potential discriminatory targeting of Iranian Americans at the border following our formal complaint. We will be working to ensure that the investigation is thorough, timely and results in the halt of this discriminatory treatment targeting our community. Detaining individuals on the basis of their national origin is illegal, and the Iranian-American community will not stand for such outrageous and discriminatory treatment.
#IAFilmmakers Series: Profile of Gobi Rahimi
Iranian-American director, Gobi Rahimi, immigrated to the United States at a particularly difficult time to be of Iranian heritage in America. Moving to the States shortly after Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, Rahimi was exposed quickly to the challenges of a hyphenated identity often marked by hostility.
#IAFilmmakers Series: Profile of Caveh Zahedi
Born and raised in the United States, Caveh Zahedi is an Iranian-American filmmaker that found his inspiration in films as an outlet for his political interests and artistic expression.
#IAFilmmakers Series: Finding Farideh – A Search for Home
Sitting in a small theater in Southern California, I watched the Iranian documentary film, Finding Farideh, amongst a theater full of fellow Iranian Americans.
#IAFilmmakers Series: Celebrating Iranian-American Filmmakers
Films are a universal medium, a way to communicate across groups, barriers, and borders. They are simultaneously an expression of an individual person and a collective group. Though set in different places and spoken in different languages, films have the power to captivate and connect people in moving ways.
NIAC Calls for Treasury to Protect Iranian Americans from Bank Account Closures
The National Iranian American Council (“NIAC”)—the largest grassroots organization in the United States representing the interests of Iranian Americans—respectfully petitions the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) for the issuance of a rule providing license authorization for certain transactions prohibited pursuant to the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (“ITSR”), 31 C.F.R. Part 560. This request is made pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 555(b) and 31 C.F.R. § 501.804(b), the latter of which is applicable to the ITSR by virtue of 31 C.F.R. § 560.101.
FAQ on Visa Waiver Reform Language in the Omnibus (December 18, 2015)
Despite numerous objections, the omnibus incorporated discriminatory provisions from a bill that passed the House of Representatives (H.R. 158) that would bar dual nationals of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan as well as foreigners who have traveled to those countries since March 2011 from eligibility in the visa waiver program.
NIAC Seeks Swift Resolution of Sanctions Hurdle for Iranian Doctors in U.S. and Canada
The National Iranian American Council issued the following statement regarding the decision of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (“ECFMG”) to suspend the processing of requests to verify educational credentials of Iranian physicians seeking to study or work in the United States.
Following Outcry at UMass Amherst, Another U.S. University Revises Policy on Iranian Students
In response to outreach from the National Iranian American Council, one more university is taking steps to ensure that its enforcement of sanctions and other restrictions against Iran do not unduly discriminate against Iranian students.
Will you sign our thank you card to the White House?
Last week, the White House hosted the first ever Iranian-American roundtable. This was a historic moment for our community to be recognized as a distinct and important constituency. But some would prefer Iranian Americans to be locked out of the White House and punished for the actions of the Iranian government. Just days after the meeting, prominent neoconservative outlets Commentary and Washington Free […]
Talented Iranian American Top Ranked in Film Competition
Ali Tabibnejad knew he was meant to be a film-maker since he was a child in Ahvaz. He would go into a room by himself and act out entire films. He imagined an entire film industry in his head: from different studios — different rooms in the house– to different theaters and directors. He would […]