To protest his detention, an Iranian man arrested and locked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arizona has gone on hunger strike twice in the previous month. Now the man’s brother, who was arrested in Tempe last month in what a family immigration attorney believes was a retaliatory act by ICE, is refusing to eat while in prison.
Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, 40, “is currently on a hunger strike” while in jail at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex, according to federal public attorney Debbie Jang. A friend of Asadi Eidivand’s, who begged to remain anonymous due to concerns about their immigration status, stated that he has only eaten four meals in the 17 days he has been held and has dropped 45 pounds.
Jang did not corroborate those details, but a doctor at CAFCC stated that Asadi Eidivand believes a hunger strike is the only way to oppose ICE. The doctor reported that Asadi Eidivand said, “ICE agents informed me they were returning me to Iran, despite the knowledge of a death sentence awaiting me.”
A spokesman for CoreCivic, which manages the prison, would not disclose detailed specifics about Asadi Eidivand’s condition but did send the following statement to New Times:
“In general, anyone in our care at CAFFC or at any CoreCivic facility who chooses to initiate a hunger strike is promptly monitored closely by the facility’s medical staff. This includes regular vital sign checks, weight measurements, and evaluations of hydration and overall physical condition to ensure their well-being. Medical personnel follow established protocols to track the individual’s status, documenting any signs of deterioration. If the detainee’s health declines to a critical point, the medical staff have the authority to transfer the individual to a local hospital for additional care to address urgent health care needs and prevent life-threatening complications.”
Asadi Eidivand’s brother, Mehrad Asadi Eidivand, a Valley bodybuilder, went on hunger strike twice after being seized and imprisoned by ICE on May 31. A federal judge authorized the government’s request to force-feed him, but the man’s immigration attorney, Rebecca Cheaves, claims he terminated his hunger strike before that could be done. The federal government and a new attorney representing Mehrad Asadi Eidivand issued a joint status report on Wednesday, stating that he “has continued to eat and drink normally and has not expressed an intention to begin a third hunger strike.” However, Cheaves, who represents him in immigration concerns but was not the attorney contesting his force-feeding, told the New Times on Wednesday that Mehrad is still “not eating well or much.”
On June 22, ICE detained Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand and charged him with being an alien in possession of a handgun. He is undocumented and was issued a deportation order in 2013, but he has fought it multiple times in the years after, all unsuccessfully. Jang labeled him in court as “anti-Muslim” and stated that he would worry for his life if deported to Iran, which is run by an extremist Islamic theocracy. Acquaintances of Asadi Eidivand reportedly claim that he is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump.
His wife, a US citizen, turned down ICE’s attempt to apprehend him without a legal warrant a day earlier. Linet Vartanian, the wife, called Tempe police and told them she was armed and would shoot ICE officials if they tried to enter the residence unlawfully. Ironically, that call may have provided an opening for ICE to arrest Asadi Eidivand, who is forbidden from owning a firearm as an unauthorized immigrant. The following day, agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a subsidiary of ICE, arrived with a warrant and arrested Asadi Eidivand and his wife, who were charged with intimidating a law enforcement official.
A judge ordered Asadi Eidivand’s detention until his trial on August 12, last Monday. Vartanniavartanians appeared for a detention hearing on Wednesday, during which audio from the vital 911 call was played in open court; however, a judge has yet to determine whether she will be released pending trial.
The 911 call
At her Wednesday detention hearing before federal judge Deborah Fine at the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse, the 37-year-old Vartanniavartanian sat in a red jumpsuit, turned to greet a few friends who had come to support her, and then listened as the court played audio from the 911 call that landed her in federal custody. Surprisingly, she ended up with a felony charge since she called the police for help.
Around 9:20 p.m. on June 21, two or three ICE officials knocked on the door of the couple’s Tempe home and requested to meet with Asadi Eidivand. Vartanniavartanians, according to her statement to a 911 operator, did not open the door but chatted with the agents from behind it. She discovered they lacked a judicial warrant and instructed them to depart until they obtained one. Vartanniavartanians informed the dispatcher that the ICE agents, who she described as disguised and refused to provide their names, did not leave and could be seen on the property’s perimeter.
Vartanniavartanians sounded terrified during the call, both by ICE’s presence at her home and by the numerous cases of immigration officers arresting otherwise law-abiding immigrants without permanent legal status. She stated that ICE is “tearing up families. “That will not happen to my family,” she said, adding that she and her husband are “not fucking criminals,” an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s now-largely abandoned plan to target convicted criminals for deportation. “I’m not going to accept it,” Vartanniavartanians stated during the conversation. “This is crazy.”
Vartanniavartanians informed the operator that she had called to complain that ICE was not leaving and consented to have Tempe police officers come to the house. She stated multiple times that she had a loaded gun in her hand and was prepared to shoot if ICE attempted to enter her home without a warrant. For much of the call, the threat was expressly conditional: Vartanniavartanians would fire if the agents illegally entered her home. But later in the call, as she became audibly more anxious, she went beyond that scenario in a way that most certainly hindered her case.
As she told the operator that she could see ICE officials beyond the low wall in their backyard and was concerned that they would hop it, she stated, “I’ll go outside the fence and just shoot them in the head. I will go to prison.” She quickly added, “I’m not safe.” “These people are not leaving my house.”
At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Addison admitted that Vartanian was “very scared,” but stated that her threat to shoot officers landed her in criminal court. Brandon Cotto, Vartanniavartanians’ attorney, said that her concern was justified and that people may see ICE’s presence near the residence after being instructed to leave “as harassment.” He also mentioned that numerous home security cameras had been removed from the couple’s home after they were arrested, raising the probability that ICE seized them.
Fine has not yet decided whether Vartanniavartanians will remain in detention pending trial.
