The man called Herischi shortly after landing and asked what he should do. Herischi told him to run.
“I don’t know what your situation is, but if you can leave Iran, leave as soon as you can,” Herischi said. “They’re gonna be after you.”
The man, who is Kurdish, traveled more than 300 miles west from Tehran on his first night back in the country and crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region, seeking refuge. His wife and child, who now live in Kentucky, have not seen him since.
Asylum cases stall as migrants remain in detention
With his client now in exile, Herischi has turned his focus to another couple still in the U.S. Farzaneh Nazi traveled through South and Central America with her husband, 35-year-old Asad Esmaeily, entering the United States on March 20, 2025. Like the previous case, Nazi was pregnant and released on parole, while Esmaeily remained in ICE detention.
The couple fled Iran after Esmaeily, a political activist, was detained and tortured by Iranian authorities. He said officials fractured the bone above his eyebrow and subjected him to waterboarding for organizing protests and distributing materials opposing the regime.
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