kAitlynn Milne said her mother usually always starts doing the first thing a few hours before the rest of her family. She likes to be productive in quiet moments around sunrise. It’s an especially best yard work moment when her New Orleans community is still sleeping, and she can rely on peacefully to complete trivia.
Gardening and rearrangement of sheds are the average mornings for Madonna “Donna” Kashanian, a 64-year-old Iranian mother, wife, home cook, member of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and a lifelong community service volunteer.
“She always said, ‘I’ve been done before I wake up most of the time,’ complained to us,” said Caitlyn, 32. She said it was always done with love because her mother admired her mother to take care of others and would wake up every morning.
But on Sunday morning, June 22, there was no way I walked like I did every morning. In the early hours of the morning, Kashanian approached the plainclothes men in her yard, who identified themselves as ice-segment.
She was quickly arrested, without her family being told. They only discovered it after happening to be awake neighbors witnessed the arrest and informed them.
According to neighbors, Kastonian was later able to confirm with her family before being handcuffed before being taken away by multiple agents. Her arrest involved three unmarked cars, including one that looked like a lookout car, which her neighbors and family believed was watching from outside and a person.
“If the neighbors didn’t push her into the car at the same time, we wouldn’t have known she was taken away,” Russell said.
About an hour later, when the Kashanians forwarded them to them what happened and where she was, she was able to call her family. The ice officer told her that she was taken to a holding center in Mississippi and eventually transferred back to the Louisiana detention center. Her husband and daughter didn’t hear from her until Tuesday after calling Sunday morning.
Despite her criminal record, she is still in ICE custody in Basil, Louisiana.
The move was exacerbated by the move by the Kastonians after a few hours after U.S. air strikes in Iran Exit Iranians By the Trump administration. This also emerged in the nationwide crackdown of ICE, which is where thousands of immigrants are often detained by masked agents, plunging many communities into fear and anger at civil liberties advocates.
Kashanians arrived in the United States on a student visa in 1978 and have been living in the country ever since. Later, she applied for asylum on fear of persecution due to her father’s connection to the US-backed Iran Shah.
Her request for asylum was eventually denied, but she was removed from office in compliance with immigration requirements and her family said she always met. Kashanian often meets with immigration officials, who once checked in from South Carolina during Hurricane Katrina, which is so cautious.
Despite having to juggle constant immigration inspections, Kastonians remain devotees to community service efforts. She volunteered to join UN-Habitat to help rebuild the house after Hurricane Katrina. She works with Nola Tree Project, a local nonprofit that replants trees after the disaster. She worked in PTA and volunteered in her daughter’s elementary, middle and high school.
“She’s always around,” Caitlyn said. “She’s been helping maintain the school. She’s been there, always helping teachers and guardians, and it’s all supported. Everyone knows Caitlyn’s mom.”
She also found time to become a skilled home cook. she YouTube Channeltitled “Mandona in the Kitchen”, is dedicated to sharing her favorite Persian recipes with aspiring chefs.
According to her daughter and husband, the Kashanian is an optimist and almost impossible to be upset. But there is one thing that never overwhelms her, it is the inappropriate rice.
Now that she has moved to a Louisiana facility, her family can talk to her once a day. But her phone number or message time is limited, so communication is limited. She said she was still not assigned to case workers.
“She was in a very good spirit,” Russell said. “She was more worried about us, and her lack of communication because she didn’t really give her any information, which was scary.”
Russell and Kaitlynn have been working tirelessly to seek legal help, but due to the complexity of the Donna case, it was a challenge, and some of her documents seem to have changed hands in the immigration office for decades.
However, another major challenge is the limited availability of immigration attorneys. As Trump administration The number of arrested ice has escalated, and legal counsel lacks legal counsel for immigrants and their families to seek help.
“We’ve been calling almost every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. last week, trying to ask for help, which is difficult, as all immigration lawyers are dealing with the crisis for everyone else, too,” Caitlin said. “We haven’t received a lot of optimistic responses so far.”
Like her mother, Kaitlynn is still energetic despite the ongoing obstacles and continues to focus on helping others who need it at the moment. But there was a moment in her resilience when her voice shaking as she recalled her memories of her mother when she created the French book section in the New Orleans Elementary Library.
Caitlin said in tears: “I’ve always forgotten this.” “Because there are no French books in the library. She organized it, got it together, and drew this little corner.”
Russell said the focus is just to lift the wife out of detention. “We are running a grassroots campaign and writing letters on her behalf, hoping to at least release her from the detention center,” he said.
“After that, we can move forward through the immigration office next step,” he added. “But now, going home is a challenge.”
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A wellness enthusiast and certified nutrition advisor, Meera covers everything from healthy living tips to medical breakthroughs. Her articles aim to inform and inspire readers to live better every day.
