TEHRAN -- Yousef Azizi, an Iranian researcher and Virginia Tech PhD candidate who legally resided in the U.S. for 13 years, has described his three-month detention by U.S. immigration authorities as politically motivated persecution targeting his criticism of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy.
On April 13, heavily armed FBI agents conducted a pre-dawn raid outside his Maryland home, with over ten vehicles and rifles pointed at him before transferring him to ICE custody. 
Despite holding valid legal status, Azizi was held for months on baseless allegations that he had ties to Iran’s Basij organization during his master’s degree—claims he says lacked any evidence.
During his detention, Azizi endured a brutal six-day transfer across multiple states, from Maryland to Louisiana, Arizona, and California, describing being shackled for 12-13 hours in airplane holds and held in freezing conditions with 30 others in a small room without adequate facilities. He characterized these transfers as part of a “business model” involving private contractors.
The academic community rallied behind him, with over 250 professors from institutions including Harvard and Michigan vouching for his character. However, his legal team faced an uphill battle when the FBI submitted a two-page memo alleging national security concerns just hours before his bond hearing. The immigration judge, bound by administrative directives, denied his release.
Azizi believes his frequent media appearances on outlets like Press TV and Sky News, where he criticized the Gaza genocide and U.S. military aggression, made him a target. He noted that authorities attempted to use his