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Alabama Woman 'Blindsided' After ICE Detains Her Trump-Supporting Iranian Husband
In the aftermath, Karimi's Alabama-born wife, Morgan Gardner Karimi, and her friends and family took to social media to plead their case.
In a post on the couple's wedding website, Morgan wrote of Ribvar:
"He brought happiness back to me, and taught me what it is like to be loved correctly. He encouraged me, and still encourages me each and every day. He sees the best in me, and never has given up, despite how difficult I can be sometimes."
But DHS is portraying her husband in a much different light.
According to a DHS press release:
"On June 22, ICE Atlanta arrested Ribvar Karimi in Locust, Alabama. Karimi reportedly served as an Iranian Army sniper from 2018 to 2021 and at the time of his arrest, in his possession, he had an Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card."
"He entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, which is reserved for aliens engaged to be married to American citizens, in October 2024 under the Biden administration."
"Karimi never adjusted his status—a legal requirement—and is removable from the United States. He’s currently in ICE custody, where he’ll remain pending removal proceedings."
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement:
"Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise."
"We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland."
While mention of his past military service in his home country—where an enlistment of two years is a requirement for all men upon turning 18—makes for good fearmongering, it's not the reason for his detainment and pending deportation.
According to DHS, Karimi's wife, Morgan Gardner Karimi, applied in 2023 for a K-1 visa for the purpose of getting married to Ribvar and in October 2024 he obtained one. The couple had been in a long distance relationship for five years, meeting periodically in Istanbul, Turkey to spend weeks together, before returning to their respective countries.
According to Morgan Karimi:
"We applied for the K1 visa in August of 2023, it took 15 months just to process our visa application."
After a six-month interview process and an intense background check, the visa was issued. A few months later, they were married.
Now, Ribvar Karimi is likely headed back to Iran—where his wife fears his support of America may prove to be a death sentence in the wake of the Trump administration's direct assault against the sovereign nation.
Kim Johnston/Facebook
But according to the DHS press release, Karimi didn't apply for an adjustment of status to become a lawful permanent resident—get a green card—by "filing Form I-485 with United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), along with other required documents and fees."
There is a 90-day deadline to get married from the issuance date of a K-1 visa, which the Karimi's met. However, according to the USCIS website, there is no mandated deadline for filing the I-485 application after the marriage.
CBS 42 WIAT, the local news, interviewed Gardner Karimi about her husband's situation.
Gardner Karimi told WIAT:
"Ribvar never fought any American forces or our allies... he actually fought ISIS himself and was captured at one point."
From a family of supporters of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump, Gardner Karimi added:
"I understand that they’ve got a job to do, immigration, but I just feel like he was specifically targeted because of what’s going on where he’s from, his home country."
While Morgan didn't vote in the last election, she said she and her MAGA family feel betrayed.
Gardner Karimi revealed her attorney said previous presidential administrations would not have abducted her husband and he should have been protected because he is married to a U.S. citizen. She added they put his costly green card application on hold after they found out she was pregnant and she had pregnancy complications.
Gardner Karimi stated:
"All of the paperwork had been completed and ready to file. We were ready to send it in and planned on doing so as soon as I gave birth."
In an interview with Newsweek, Morgan Karimi shared:
"My husband himself, even being from Iran, supported Trump, his immigration policies, and understood he was trying to protect the American people and was praying he helped free the Iranian people."
"This man wears the American flag proudly, and it's a shame that someone who is so proud to be here is at risk of being robbed of building the life he has dreamed of for so long. His groom's cake at our wedding was an American flag cake."
Now Gardner Karimi and her family feel betrayed by Trump.
"I am just so heartbroken and desperate to get my husband home before I give birth. We believed in [Trump's] immigration policies and were completely blindsided and truly believed that only criminals were being detained."
"Everyone feels like a fool and regrets the decision [to support Trump]... At this point, I believe there are bad people on the left and the right."
After getting a wider audience, opinions of the situation came quickly, with some supporting Ribvar and Morgan...
While others believed DHS's "logic" that anyone from Iran who served in the military is probably a sleeper cell terrorist.
Cam Hays/Facebook
Sympathy was hard to come by on the left or the right.
@davidho/Bluesky
Kimberly Fasking/Facebook
@seanfl50/Bluesky
@j2theperson/X
The Ware County Republicans of Georgia had an extra level of vitriol for Ribvar and Morgan Gardner Karimi.
Ware County Republicans/Facebook
Ware County Republicans/Facebook
Some attacked Morgan Gardner Karimi for marrying an Iranian.
Ware County Republicans/Facebook
Others focused on what Ribvar Karimi looked like.
Ware County Republicans/Facebook
Gardner Karimi was hoping public pressure would help her, but the people like her family who support Trump also believe her husband "looks" like a terrorist.
The people who oppose Trump's racist and xenophobic policies have little sympathy when MAGA eat their own.
If she wants to plead her case to Donald Trump, she'll need to get in line behind all the other MAGA supporters he's already harmed since January.
Most Read
Jesse Watters Dragged After Trying To Give Mamdani A Scary Nickname That's Actually Kind Of Epic
If elected in November, Mamdani would become New York City’s first Muslim mayor, a milestone that has energized the city’s approximately one million Muslim residents. His campaign prominently embraced his faith, with regular mosque visits and messaging that connected his background to the city’s broader diversity.
Many prominent Republicans—including conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and President Donald Trump's policy adviser Stephen Miller—have shared racist and Islamophobic rhetoric in response to Mamdani's win and have claimed his policies would "destroy" the city.
And Watters leaned into the socialist fearmongering when he said:
“Zohran the Destroyer is about to give Karl Marx a woke makeover if Democrats can’t stop him from becoming the next mayor of New York City.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
You can see the chyron below that declares "Zohran the Destroyer Wrecks Dem Party."
Fox News
It sure sounded cool, actually—which wasn't at all what Watters was going for, but too bad.
Mamdani has faced relentless attacks from Republicans in recent days, notably from Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles, who urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to denaturalize and deport Mamdani over a lyric in a rap song Mamdani released in 2017 that emphasizes his pro-Palestine stance.
Meanwhile, Trump derided Mamdani as a "communist" and said Mamdani must "do the right thing" should he win the mayoralty, or risk losing federal funding. Trump said "whoever's mayor of New York is going to have to behave themselves or the federal government is coming down very tough on them financially."
Mamdani dismissed these attacks, saying he's "had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I'm from, who I am, ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I'm fighting for."
People Sound Off On What Caused Them To Fire Their Therapist
However, how effective therapy can be truly depends on your therapist.
It's easy to tell shortly into a first session whether a therapist will be a good fit.
Sometimes, however, we might discover that someone we thought was a good therapist was actually steering us down the wrong path.
Resulting in our need to end our professional relationship.
Redditor Normal_Enthusiasm194 was curious to hear about cases where people felt compelled to fire their therapists, leading them to ask:
"What is something your therapist did that made you fire them?"
No One Is That Good A Listener...
"Sat there and stared at me while I talked without ever offering feedback, reflections, or insights."- LowKeyGlitch
Didn't Offer Their Full Attention
"Not mine, but my sister was doing a session over Zoom when the TikTok her therapist was watching off screen started playing on full volume."- sillykathleen
"But Enough About Me... What Do You Think About Me?"
"She talked way too much about herself and experiences and talked over me when I tried to take back the conversation."-LickAD*ckASaurus
Thats Me I Know GIF by Jackie James Giphy
Not The Advice They Were Looking For...
"I live in a very nice neighborhood, which is well known for being an affluent area."
"After finding out where I lived, my therapist went on for about 15 minutes about how awful the east side of Indianapolis is and how he wouldn't live here in my neighborhood because it's too close to the 'bad part of town'."
"He was saying stuff like, 'Aren't you afraid living there?'"
"'That can't be good for your anxiety, I'd be a mess all the time'."
"I corrected him and told him I live in Geist, which is actually quite safe and quiet."
"He brought it up in our next session, too, and mentioned that I should move to help with my anxiety levels, that living in a small town or a nicer suburb would make me feel safer."
"Dude was projecting his bullsh*t insecurities about bad neighborhoods like a motherf*cker."- will_write_for_tacos
So Much For Doctor/Patient Confidentiality
"She told my mom Everything I told her."
"I was 15 at the time."- I_want_pancakes_123
The Job They Signed Up For...
"After a few months of us working together, every time I shared anything with her, she said, 'OK, so, you just trauma dumped on me again' always with a tone of exhaustion."
"But she never gave me alternative options for sharing techniques, and I wasn’t really sure why I was in therapy if I wasn’t allowed to share things without getting weird pushback."
"Honestly, she really did help me a lot at first, but then maybe she got tired of me."- petrakat
Once Is A Mistake, Twice Though...
"Missed an appointment ... twice ..."
"It was like an hour and fifteen-minute bus ride to their office, and it was just... locked."
"Then I called them, and they said they forgot we rescheduled ... I have never been back to therapy since."- Anxious_Bluejay
Hurry Up Countdown GIF by Escape Hunt UK Giphy
Not Her Specialty
"I had an eating disorder, told her peanut butter was a safe food, and she said she packed on the pounds when she started eating peanut butter."
"Messed me up a bit. "- Lasagnaoflife
Progressive? Or Just Plain Creepy?
"Not me but my partner."
"They asked them if they ever had a chance to sleep around in their early twenties."
"My partner said no and was happily monogamous."
"Well, the therapist said that essentially, they should break up with me to explore more sexual partners."
"They were floored."
"The therapist would not drop the subject, and essentially, my partner had to leave because the therapist would not let go of my partner needing to sleep around."
"They went to therapy because they wanted help managing job stress..."
"Personally, I've never had a bad experience, thank god."- Bitter_Detective_952
You Think You Know Someone...
"He showed up in one of those ‘Are We Dating the Same Guy’ Facebook groups and he didn’t treat women well."
"I switched after that."- drulaps
Non-Refundable...
"Scheduled an appointment for me on a holiday when the office wasn't even open then tried to penalize me for no call/no showing."- MistressLiliana
Whose Side Was She Even On?!?
"Sympathized with my coercive ex-husband and emotionally abusive ex-husband."
"The relationship got to a point where I couldn’t have sex with him due to things that had happened; she told me to just give in and have sex and that by doing it, I’d get over it."
"She didn’t bother trying to understand the disconnect and discomfort. Just simply, 'put out."- mykneescrack
I Have No Idea Whatever GIF by MOODMAN Giphy
Sore Subject...
"I went through a pretty rough patch a few years back. I got pretty depressed and gained a bunch of weight."
"To get out of it, I started seeing this therapist. I started pulling myself out of the depression."
"I was doing better, and I'd dropped a fair amount of my excess weight. I mentioned it to the therapist."
"I guess I should mention that this therapist was a bigger person."
"Maybe bordering on obese."
"I didn't care, but she was."
"So when I mentioned that I'd lost weight, her response was to go on and on for about 15 minutes about unrealistic body expectations, then ask me if I'd ever watched My 600 Pound Life."
"I said no, and she told me all about how the people on there were super-heavy and none of them had ever had a heart attack."
"I realized I was firmly in Her Problem territory, not mine."
"I tried to change the subject, but she kept talking about it."
"Covid shut us down a week or two later, and I wasn't sorry to be done with her."- edgarpickle
A Little Sympathy Goes A Long Way.
"Took the side of the employer that I won a claim against when they were assigned to help me with the issues the employer caused after I had already won."- ChaoticMaplesyrup
If you think you need therapy, there is no shame to be had.
But after starting therapy, it doesn't take too long to realize that no therapy at all is more effective than having a bad therapist...
MAGA Rep Slammed After Calling For Mamdani To Be Stripped Of His Citizenship And Deported Over Rap Lyric
His efforts paid off—he ultimately bested former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a seismic win for progressives that has reverberated across the country. But Mamdani's win has also ignited an Islamophobic backlash against him, including from Ogles.
Taking to X, Ogles wrote:
"Zohran "little muhammad" Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings."
Ogles shared images of a letter he sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging the Department of Justice to investigate whether Mamdani should be stripped of his U.S. citizenship. In the letter, he alleged that Mamdani may have obtained naturalization fraudulently by willfully misrepresenting or concealing "material support for terrorism," even referencing a rap song Mamdani released in 2017.
His letter said, in part:
“According to public reports, including a June 21, 2025 New York Post article, Mr. Mamdani expressed open solidarity with individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses prior to becoming a U.S. citizen. Specifically, he rapped: ‘Free the Holy Land Five / My guys."
“Publicly praising the Foundation’s convicted leadership as ‘my guys’ raises serious concerns about whether Mr. Mamdani held affiliations or sympathies he failed to disclose during the naturalization process."
“While I understand that some may raise First Amendment concerns about taking legal action based on expressive conduct, such as rap lyrics, speech alone does not preclude accountability where it reasonably suggests underlying conduct relevant to eligibility for naturalization.”
The term “Holy Land Five” refers to five senior officials from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the largest Muslim charity in the United States. In 2008, a federal jury convicted them of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.
You can see Ogles' post and read the letter below.
@RepOgles/X
@RepOgles/X
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development "was shut down by the Bush administration and designated as a terrorist organization in the wake of 9/11, even though it donated money to Palestinian charities that the U.S. government itself supported. Its leaders are serving sentences of up to 65 years in federal prison."
The organization notes that the defendants "were never accused of directly funding terrorist organizations or terrorist attacks, nor were the Palestinian charities they funded accused of doing so. Despite this, "they were prosecuted under US 'material support' legislation on the notion that the social programs they financed help win the 'hearts and minds' of Palestinian people for Hamas."
Mamdani's stance has drawn backlash, including from some Jewish organizations who argue his views and Muslim identity reflect antisemitism—a charge Mamdani rejects. He has spoken publicly about receiving hate messages, including ones declaring, “the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.”
Many have condemned Ogles' action, saying it's ultimately rooted in Islamophobia.
Mamdani previously addressed the weaponization of antisemitism and the divisive tone of the race during his victory speech, saying the mayoral campaign “filled our airwaves with millions in smears and slander.”
The New York Police Department confirmed that Mamdani has been the target of repeated car bomb threats left in voicemails by an unknown individual making anti-Muslim remarks.
As part of his platform, Mamdani has pledged to increase funding for the city’s anti-hate crime program by 800 percent, aiming to more aggressively combat both Islamophobia and antisemitism, among other hate-fueled threats.