ICE arrests 11 Iranian nationals in 48 hours

In its latest crackdown against illegal immigration, federal agents arrested 11 Iranian foreign nationals in 48 hours, including one watchlisted individual — part of a series of targeted operations spanning eight states and nine cities nationwide.

Among those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Sunday, June 22, is Mehran Makari Saheli, at his home near St. Paul, Minnesota. ICE officials say Saheli is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of Iran’s armed forces. They said the detainee has “admitted connections to Hezbollah,” a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization backed by Iran.

ICE said that five of those arrested possessed previous criminal convictions ranging from grand larceny to drug and firearm possessions.

The Department of Homeland Security says Yousef Mehridehno had been living in America illegally for nearly 8 years when federal authorities determined he lied on a visa application. Roughly four months after the Iranian foreign national was added to the U.S. known or suspected terrorist list in February, he was apprehended by federal agents Sunday in central Mississippi, just outside of Jackson.

Read more: CBS News