Immigration officials arrested and detained Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a 38-year-old Iranian father who is in the process of obtaining a green card, while he was dropping his child off at a preschool in Oregon on Tuesday, but ICE said they tried to arrest him before drop-off, during a traffic stop, but he asked to take his child to school first.
Tyler Burns, whose two daughters also attend Guidepost Montessori preschool in Beaverton, Oregon, described the arrest as “super aggressive” to Newsweek and said immigration officers broke Khanbabazadeh’s car window outside the school.
Angel Ignacio, Guidepost Global Education’s Northwest regional manager, told Newsweek in an email statement that the school is “deeply disturbed by what took place in our South Beaverton school parking lot” on Tuesday.
Newsweek has reached out to Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) for comment via email on Thursday.
Why It Matters
Khanbabazadeh’s arrest and detention come amid an immigration crackdown under the Trump administration and inflamed U.S. relations with Iran. The U.S. struck three of Iran’s nuclear sites, Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz, in June, and Iran later hit a U.S. base in Qatar.
President Donald Trump has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. The initiative has seen an intensification of ICE raids across the country, with thousands of people having been swept up and arrested. Shortly after taking office, Trump threw out DHS policies to limit where ICE arrests can take place, granting ICE the right to conduct raids in places of worship, schools, and hospitals.
ICE has faced increasing criticism in recent months for permitting its agents to conduct immigration enforcement operations while wearing plain clothes and face coverings, as well as showing up in unmarked cars. Officials maintain that masks are necessary to protect agents’ identities and shield their families from death threats.
JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
What To Know
Around 8:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning, Burns was entering the school’s parking lot to drop off his daughters and noticed it was “full, which is pretty unusual.” He described seeing officials, some in masks, in “unmarked” cars and noted that there was an “aggression” about their approach.
He said he went inside to the head of school’s office, who was “unaware that police were there.” After dropping his daughters off in their class, he came back outside, saw between five to 10 cars, “heard screaming,” describing it as “super aggressive, and then I heard the glass break of them breaking his window. And then, I saw them pull him out of his car and they put him up pretty aggressively against his car and handcuffed him.”
Burns added, “He wasn’t resisting, he was in shock and he was trying to communicate to his wife.” Burns said his wife was with him at the time, but his child was not.
Khanbabazadeh is now detained in the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, according to the ICE detention database.
Caroline Keating Medeiros, who is also a parent at the school as well as an immigration attorney, said that Khanbabazadeh came to the U.S. on a valid student and graduated in March 2021. He then transitioned to optional practical training (OPT), which is temporary employment.
“He married a US citizen that July and filed both the I-130 and I-485,” she said, noting, “The I-130 has been approved, and the I-485 is still pending. They had their green card interview four months ago and were waiting on the final decision when all of this happened.”
An ICE spokesperson told local outlet OBP that he lawfully entered the U.S. in 2017, but overstayed his student visa.
Khanbabazadeh works as a chiropractor in the area, with his Instagram account stating he treats “headache, neck and low back pains,” as well as “auto accident and work related injuries.”
Amid heightened fears of potential terror cells, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested 11 Iranian citizens who were in the U.S. illegally in June.
What People Are Saying
Tyler Burns, a parent with two daughters at the Oregon preschool, told Newsweek on Thursday: “This is a parent who is a contributor to his community and is mild-mannered, nothing but you know, a great father and attentive. He lives the same routine that many parents do every single day and it’s unfair that he would be approached with such aggression in such an unfair way. It’s disgusting.”
Angel Ignacio, Guidepost Global Education’s Northwest regional manager, told Newsweek in an email statement Thursday: “While we are still working to understand the full details of the situation, we can confirm that a law enforcement action occurred during school hours and involved the apprehension of a parent by federal agents.
Our first priority is the safety and emotional well-being of the children in our care. We are actively supporting the affected child and family, and we are providing our staff and families with resources to help them process this event with care and sensitivity.
We are also reviewing the circumstances surrounding this incident and taking steps to ensure that our campuses remain a safe and secure environment for all members of our school community.”
An ICE spokesperson told local outlet KGW8 that ICE officers first tried to arrest him during a traffic stop but he asked to drop his child off at the school: “Officers allowed him to proceed to the daycare parking lot where he stopped cooperating, resisted arrest and refused to exit his vehicle, resulting in ICE officers making entry by breaking one of the windows to complete the arrest.”
What Happens Next
The community has expressed outrage over his detention and the way it was carried out. It remains unclear what the next steps in his case will be.