More than six months ago, USCIS stopped processing thousands of cases filed by legal immigrants.
Since then, people have lost jobs. Lost income. Lost health insurance. Some are now at risk of losing their homes.
The government says these individuals require additional vetting. But if they are truly a concern, why leave them inside the United States indefinitely instead of reviewing their cases and making decisions?
Students. Engineers. Researchers. Doctors.
People who followed every rule should not be punished for doing things the right way.
Six months is not a pause.
It is a crisis.
@SecMullinDHS@USCISJoe@SenGaryPeters@RandPaul@RepYassAnsari
#LiftTheHold #USCISPause
I am screaming to the free world out there, maybe someone will finally hear us.
It has now been 6 months since @USCISJoe stopped processing not some, but all applications from hundreds of thousands of LEGAL immigrants, despite collecting over $1 billion in application fees. Many affected individuals, including me, have already lost their jobs because work permits are no longer being renewed or issued.
We are left in limbo, with no way to support our spouses and children, no health insurance, and no ability to obtain or renew driver’s licenses. Imagine legally working in critical fields like AI and medicine just a few months ago, and now being forced to stay home, unable to even afford groceries.
They are taking away the legal status and careers we spent years building, putting highly skilled LEGAL immigrants at risk of deportation. We have done nothing wrong in our immigration cases, yet our applications remain frozen, pushing people out of status or making life so difficult that they are forced to give up and leave the country.
All of this is happening in silence. Major media outlets are barely covering this crisis. There is no serious public discussion, no national attention, and no meaningful congressional debate.
@StateDept@SecRubio The pause on immigration benefits for people from Iran is affecting individuals who studied hard, worked honestly, and followed every rule. Please resume processing these cases so people can move forward with their lives instead of living in uncertainty.
عزیزان مومنتومی که ایجاد کردین گرفته گویا. دموکراتها فعال شدن در این زمینه. توی رسانهها داره ظاهر میشه! نتایج دادگاهها دارن به سود ما درمیان! 👌🏻👌🏻
بپیوندید به جمع حتی اگر تابحال نپیوستید. بهترین فرصتمون همین الانه و ممکنه در آینده فرصتی نباشه.
#USCISpause#LiftTheHold
The Trump Administration is trying to dismantle our legal immigration system piece by piece.
It indefinitely paused processing for LEGAL immigration applications—with little explanation and zero plan to restart.
Time to investigate.
@JBlunt1018 I came to the U.S. on a student visa, studied, worked, followed every rule. I was literally at the finish line—my citizenship interview scheduled—and it got canceled. No reschedule. Just silence. Please be our voice! @SenMurray@SenCantwell#LiftTheHold
Yes, it's completely awful. Since December, the U.S. government has put HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of applications from people from 39 different countries into filing cabinets and is refusing to issue decisions — even if it means people lose their jobs. https://t.co/IJsMhf4JD9
يكى از دانشجوهاى دكترا در امريكا به سرطان مبتلا شده و به خاطر هولد ويزا موقعيت شغلى رو هم از دست داده و بيمهاش مشکل پیدا کرده.
اگر امکانش را دارید از طریق لینک زیر کمک کنید.
#LiftTheHold#USCISPause
https://t.co/PYzVYdf03r
This is not a delay. This is a slow, silent purge of legal immigrants.
People who followed every rule are being erased from the system, losing jobs, income, health care, and being pushed toward homelessness or forced out of the country with no decision, no timeline, no accountability.
This is what happens when a system abandons due process.
You are not fixing immigration. You are breaking it.
@SecMullinDHS@USCISJoe@SecRubio@realDonaldTrump@MartinHeinrich@ckuck@CurtisMorrison@miriamjordan@Haleaziz lift the hold now.
#USCISpause #LiftTheHold
Last year, Dr. Ezequiel Véliz was named 2025 Resident of the Year at UT Health, Rio Grande Valley.
Last week, ICE detained him in McAllen, Texas—ripping him away from his family, his life, and his patients.
The Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign is destroying lives. ICE is not going after the worst of the worst, they are targeting people like Dr. Véliz, who has been living in the U.S. for nine years, married to a U.S. citizen, and meeting the healthcare needs of a severely underserved population. Dr. Véliz should be released immediately.
@AlinejadMasih I came to the U.S. on a student visa, studied, worked, followed every rule. I was literally at the finish line—my citizenship interview scheduled—and it got canceled. No reschedule. Just silence. This “pause” isn’t policy to me, it’s my life on hold. #LiftTheHold
@SenMarkey I came to the U.S. on a student visa, studied, worked, followed every rule. I was literally at the finish line—my citizenship interview scheduled—and it got canceled. No reschedule. Just silence. This “pause” isn’t policy to me, it’s my life on hold. #LiftTheHold
Dear @SecMullinDHS@SecRubio@RealTomHoman@USCISJoe@SenGaryPeters
LEGAL Iranian immigrants are making outsized contributions to the U.S. economy and innovation ecosystem.
Leaders like @dkhos at Uber, @alighodsi at Databricks ($134B valuation), and Adam Foroughi at AppLovin ($130B+) demonstrate their impact on tech and finance.
Venture-backed Iranian-American founders have created $25B+ in company value and manage $244B+ in assets under management across AI, fintech, healthcare, and infrastructure.
Over 15% of papers at NeurIPS 2025, the world’s top AI conference, had Iranian co-authors.
Early-stage innovators like Dara Ladjevardian (Delphi AI) and Nima Alidoust (Tahoe Therapeutics) are developing AI platforms and novel cancer therapies.
Exits such as Cal AI → MyFitnessPal and AfterSell → Rokt highlight their entrepreneurial success.
The @USCIS pause on LEGAL Iranian applicants jeopardize this pipeline, risking the loss of founders, investors, and researchers poised to create billions in economic value and drive U.S. competitiveness in emerging technologies.
Delays today threaten the innovators of tomorrow.
#LiftTheHold @David_J_Bier@elinashirazi@StephenM@kooshiar
Source: https://t.co/qGlvcQDOmP
Many brilliant Iranian students came to the United States with nothing but their dreams, their talent, and their respect for the law. They believed in the promise of this country, a place where hard work, freedom, and merit matter.
Today, many of those same students and immigrants are living in fear and uncertainty because of the #USCISPause . These are people who followed every rule, respected every law, and have absolutely no connection to the Iranian regime. Yet their lives, their careers, and their futures are now hanging in limbo.
If you are a lawyer, a policymaker, or someone who believes in justice, please stand with them.
Speak up.
Help them.
Don’t let their futures disappear in silence.
#LifeTheHold
USCIS: “We can’t vet them based in where they were born.”
Also USCIS: trusted them for 10+ years to treat patients, prescribe controlled medications, and work in U.S. hospitals.
You do not get to call someone safe enough to practice medicine for a decade on veterans and american kids, prescribe narcotics, yet too risky to process basic immigration paperwork.
That is contradiction.
A physician exception is urgently needed to protect the care of millions of Americans.
#LiftTheHold
#LiftThePause
In the midst of a catastrophic war and escalating repression in Iran, the Trump Administration is halting immigration processing and legal status pathways for Iranian nationals, including students and professionals already in the United States.
Because visa processing and immigration benefit applications are now frozen, many Iranians studying and working here could lose their legal status and be forced to return to a country where they may face serious danger.
I’m working on a series of actions to demand immediate protections for Iranians in the U.S., including safeguards for students and others whose lives would be at risk in Iran.