Marco Rubio says letting Iranian family stay can bring "serious adverse foreign policy consequences"

Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed immigration authorities to revoke the permanent residency of an Iranian family in Los Angeles, citing an obscure statute that permits deportation for diplomatic reasons. The decision centered on the teenage son’s grandmother, who had been a spokeswoman for the student group that held 52 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. After arrests in April, the 16-year-old and his mother were sent to a Texas family detention center; his father is held in another facility. Lawyers argue the teen’s four-month detention violates the Flores agreement’s 20-day limit, and a federal judge plans to appoint a compliance monitor. The family says they have never been accused of a crime. Rubio wrote that permitting them to stay could hurt the nation’s diplomatic standing.