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Reza Zavvar, a green card holder and 40-year U.S. resident, was stopped by federal agents while walking his dog. Zavvar, 52, was arrested last June 28 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement just yards from his Maryland home. He is currently being held in a facility in Texas.


Zavvar came to the United States legally from Iran 40 years ago, when he was just a young boy, to pursue his studies: he was later joined by his family. He now faces deportation to Romania or Australia, for an old offense involving possession of marijuana, dating back to the 1990s.

His mother, Firouzeh Firouzabadi, recounted that in late June, minutes after Zavvar had gone out to walk his dog, Duke, strangers in uniforms showed up at his door with a leash in hand. “I was shaking,” the woman recounted. “My brother was behind me holding me, and a lot of questions were coming, but the first thing that came to my mind was that maybe a car hit him and he’s on the floor, that’s why they brought him, Duke to me. That was the first thing that hit me. It was hard.” 

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