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An Iranian mother detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers was released this week following advocacy from Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

Mandonna "Donna" Kashanian, 64, was detained by ICE officers last month as she gardened in the yard of her New Orleans home. CBS New Orleans affiliate WWL-TV reports that it happened on June 22, the day after U.S. forces bombed Iran.


She's lived in the United States for 47 years and her husband of 35 years, Russell Milne, and 32-year-old daughter Kaitlynn are both U.S. citizens.

Kashanian had been allowed to stay in the U.S. as long as she checked in regularly with immigration authorities, as she had done without fail, her family and attorney said. 

More than 100 of Kashanian's neighbors wrote letters of support for her, which Hilferty told the AP she and Scalise had shared with the Trump administration. 

Kashanian arrived in the U.S. in 1978 on a student visa and unsuccessfully applied for asylum based on her father's support of the U.S.-backed shah. 

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