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Detained by ICE - she still loves Trump: “I will support him until the day I die" [1]

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Date: 2025-07-11

The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free. That he is not free is apparent only to other people” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.

On July 3, I posted a diary titled, " Man whose wife was arrested and jailed by ICE maintains his absolute support for Trump" . It featured MAGA Arthu (or Arthur, sources vary) Sahakyan, whose Iranian-born wife Arpineh Masihi — the mother of his four children — had been arrested and imprisoned by ICE. Despite this, Sahakyan maintained his faith in Trump, the author of his wife's detention.

Comments on the piece revealed that most DKers thought the guy was a cultist lost to reason. However, a minority suggested that Arthu was not unhappy at the separation, as the marriage was way past the honeymoon phase. What didn't occur to anyone — myself included — is that his wife, despite her circumstances, was as deep into the MAGA madness as her husband.

The BBC caught up with Masihi in her current residence, the Adelanto immigrant detention center in the Mojave Desert. Over the phone, she told a reporter that, even though she was the victim of Trump's immigration sadism, she was going to the grave with her adoration for the man unabridged.

"He's doing the right thing because lots of these people don't deserve to be here. I will support him until the day I die. He's making America great again."

This idolatry is North Korean-style insanity. And an exercise in hypocrisy.

Masihi, now 39, had arrived in the US from Iran as a three-year-old. She was granted permanent residence (a green card). Then, in 2008, she lost it after she broke the law. Her husband Arthu had dismissed her offenses as a mere bagatelle. He called it "misdemeanor stuff" after Arpineh cashed a check for "less than $200".

He lied. She is a convicted felon. The BBC reported:

She had a rough patch many years ago, in 2008, when she was convicted of burglary and grand theft and was sentenced to two years in prison. An immigration judge revoked her Green Card, which is a common practice. But because she is a Christian Armenian Iranian, the judge allowed her to remain in the country instead of being deported.

Masihi was 22 when she committed her crimes. Young, I grant you — but unequivocally an adult. Someone with that criminal record is undoubtedly one of "these people [who MAGA thinks] don't deserve to be here." Yet Arpineh is MAGA to her socks. She is as entitled as only a bigot can be. She considers it her divine right to ignore the norms she demands others meet.

His husband also embraces this double standard — while ignoring that the Republicans had voted down a muscular, bipartisan border security bill during the last administration. He also doesn't know that Biden's rate of deportations is higher than Trump's. This is his take on his wife's imprisonment:

"I don't blame Trump, I blame Biden. It's his doing for open borders, but I believe in the system and all the good people will be released and the ones that are bad will be sent back."

ICE must surely have detained some bad people. However, as far as I know, even Fox News has not found one of them to crow about. Instead, the administration and its propaganda arm are clinging to the myth that the good people arrested, incarcerated, and expelled are, in fact, bad people.

"Sent back" is also pie in the sky. Trump is flying people to countries they have never been to — eg, El Salvador and South Sudan. He has also asked other countries to receive the deported regardless of their nationality — eg, Costa Rica, Panama, and Rwanda.

Sahakyan also thinks that his felonious wife should get the special refugee status he would not accord to other victims of oppression. He says that because of her religion, she should get the preferential treatment that his boy, Trump, casually denies others .

"We are Christians. She can't go back [to Muslim Iran] there's no way,"

Fine. Then let her suffer the fate of others in her demographic. In February, a group of Iranian Christians who had just crossed the border from Mexico were deported to Panama , not Iran. Although that is not working out well for them.

By her account, Masihi has been a model resident since moving past her criminal past. She told the BBC:

"I own a business. I own a property. I own cars. I haven't done anything wrong in so many years."

So what? Trump doesn't give a shit. Yet she still supports him? I have no words.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/11/2332833/-Trump-locked-her-up-but-she-still-loves-him-I-will-support-him-until-the-day-I-die?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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