Los Angeles family detained at immigration center in Texas for four months

LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA) - A Los Angeles family has spent months in an immigration detention center in Texas, fighting a never-ending battle against the U.S. government, not for something they did, but because of who they're related to.

NBC affiliate KNBC heard from the mother, through a letter she wrote, describing a nightmare she can't wake up from and highlighting what her lawyers are calling bloodline punishment.

The lawyers for the family said they haven't seen a case like this where a couple and their son were detained for something that their relative did before any of them of them were even born.

The husband's mother was a spokesperson for the group that took Americans hostage during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.

Meanwhile, the State Department is using that connection to detain the family for more than 120 days.

"'We are in tremendous pain and have been trapped in an unendurable, unending nightmare,'" said Jacob Hart, reading a letter published in The Nation, an online magazine, with the author, his friend Maryam Tahmasebi, begging for help. "'Imagine that you are an independent woman wading through the waters of sexism and patriarchy every day, and then you are told that not only do your own ideas and academic achievements not matter, but you are somehow now responsible for decisions you never made, and for things that happened before you were even born.'"

Tahmasebi, a professor at L.A. Pierce College, her husband Eissa Hashemi, who is also an educator, and their 16-year-old son, all permanent residents of the United States, were detained by ICE in April, with their green cards revoked.

Tahmasebi and her son were taken to the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, while her husband is being held at another nearby facility. Tahmasebi and her son are only able to speak to Hashemi over the phone for ten minutes every two weeks.

"What struck me was this seemed to be the first time that the foreign policy ground was being used to target people based not on any conduct of theirs whatsoever, but based solely on family relationship," said Hassan Ahmad, an immigration lawyer and advocate.

Tahmasebi and Hashemi's lawyers say the family was detained because Hashemi is the son of a woman, who at 19-years-old was a spokesperson for a group of university students who held U.S. citizens hostage 47 years ago during the Islamic revolution.

"At no point has a state department or has the government once offered any evidence that this family poses a viable actual threat to national security. In America, we do not punish people for who they're related to," said Maria Kari, a human rights attorney.

But the family's lawyers say this is exactly what is happening, and it appears to have started with an online campaign to get them removed, which got the attention of state officials, including Leo Terrell who tagged Secretary of State Marco Rubio just days before the family was detained.

"All this misinformation, disinformation campaign collectively led to getting the attention of some high-level official at the State Department who then flagged it for the likes of Rubio, resulting in this so-called Rubio determination that they pose a threat to our foreign policy," Kari expressed.

Loved ones say Hashemi and Tahmasebi are hardworking, caring people.

"She teaches all of our classes. There isn't a single subject she won't teach. So she just shows up. She shows up for the community. She shows up for her colleagues and shows up for her students," said Dr. Jennifer Moses, Chair of Psychology, Addiction, Study, and Statistics at L.A. Pierce College.

"I think everybody probably has in their mind, this is the sweetest human I've ever met. And it's not exaggeration for me when I say it's Eissa," Hart added.

After months in detention, the family did offer to voluntarily depart the country, but they were denied "at this time"

"She said, 'We love this country, but we understand it doesn't love us back. So that's fine. We're not fighters. We'll go. Just let us go.' And they're refusing," Ahmed shared.

The family said they don't know how much longer they can take living separate and in limbo. The conditions at the detention center, they said, are unbearable.

"There's black mold everywhere. There's bugs everywhere. The water is not potable. I mean, this is now the story of each and every one of these prisons around the country, right? This is not specific to Dilley, but this is also the story of this young family," Kari said.

Lawyers said the entire ordeal has been emotionally destabilizing for the couple's teenage son as the detention center is not supposed to house children for this long.

Their son, writing to his attorneys, said he wishes he could have more contact with his friends.

"He's now been there, I think six times the length of the allowable length, but this is what happens," Ahmed spoke.

Loved ones and the family's lawyers now trying to bring attention to what they say is a grave injustice, hoping that if enough people care, to write their senators and share this story, then maybe this family and others like them will get the due process they deserve.

"At some point it has to stop. At some point there needs to be a line that says, okay, we're not going to sink to the level of collective punishment or bloodline punishment. This is the kind of stuff that happens in countries like Iran," Ahmed said.

"Anybody in this country right now who thinks that within the foreseeable future this government won't come after them for one reason or another needs to wake up," Hart added.

"I'm under no illusions. I know what it actually takes. And it's going to take all of us," Ahmed further added. "So show up. Show up. That's all I'm asking. If anybody watching this, just show up for those who cannot show up for themselves."

The Department of Homeland Security did provide a statement regarding the case, reading in part:

"All detainees have claims heard and receive due process. ICE arrested Eissa Seyed Hashemi, his wife Maryam Tahmasebi, and their minor son in Los Angeles, California. Eissa Seyed Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, an Iranian regime politician who also acted as a spokesperson during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979. ICE law enforcement officers successfully apprehended all three individuals whose presence in the United States posed a clear threat to our national security and foreign policy."