Shop owner in Los Angeles rallies community to support his wife who was detained by ICE
LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A Los Angeles shop owner is rallying the community behind his wife who was detained by ICE.
"I am totally lost! my feelings! I honestly even thought...I was thinking what a life I have," said Hooshang Aghdassi, the shop owner whose wife was detained by ICE.
Aghdassi says he hasn't seen his wife, Sharareh Moghadam, in almost a month after ICE agents detained her.
"She had green card and passed exam for citizenship and was waiting for ceremony," Aghdassi shared.
The Iranian couple has owned a balloon shop in Studio City for almost two decades.
Aghdassi says his wife received a letter from immigration for an in-person meeting, thinking she was one step closer to completing the process she went in, but was then was taken into custody.
He says she was transferred to at a detention facility in Phoenix, Arizona.
"She is not the bank robber or chief or criminal. She is a decent woman," Aghdassi expressed.
Hooshang says his wife was born in Iran and entered the country legally with her documents in order, but he believes a recent trip is the reason behind her detention.
"She was...in Iran three months ago 40," he said.
Community members are now stopping by the ballon shop, signing a petition requesting that lawmakers step in before Moghadam's next hearing.
Aghdassi says he is clinging to hope that one day he will be reunited with his wife as he reflects on the reasons why both of them chose to settle here.
"[The] U.S. is a land of opportunity and freedom and it was, but right now...you can see everything change. You don't feel secure anymore," he remarked.
