5/20/2025 United States (International Christian Concern) — A new bill inspired by the story of Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old Iranian-Christian convert deported four months ago by the Trump administration, was introduced in Congress today.

Representative Yassamin Ansari, an Iranian-American Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, introduced the Artemis Act. The bill would stop the expedited removal of refugees fleeing countries known to persecute Christians and other religious minorities. It would also allow these refugees to claim asylum in a U.S. immigration court.

Ghasemzadeh, now in Panama, is praying and searching for a safe country to accept her before her humanitarian visa expires on June 7. Otherwise, she will be returned to Iran, where she would face extreme persecution for leaving Islam.

Ghasemzadeh’s journey began months ago when she fled Iran with her older brother, Shahin, first to Dubai and then to Mexico, where they hired a smuggler to take them into the United States.

The siblings were detained together for five days in San Diego and then separated: Ghasemzadeh to Panama with other refugees, and her brother to a Houston detention facility, where he remains. Other families were separated, too.

“At first, I thought we were going to Texas,” Ghasemzadeh told International Christian Concern (ICC) staffers during a WhatsApp video call last week. “And when we heard Panama, I was like, ‘Is that in the United States?’”

Ghasemzadeh spent a month at an unsanitary camp near the Darién Gap jungle, choosing to sleep outdoors, before moving to a hotel in Panama City with UNICEF support.

She is now staying with two Christian families from Iran and asylum-seekers from China, Vietnam, and Pakistan. They were initially given 30 days to leave the country but received a two-month reprieve.

While the Artemis Act would not help Ghasemzadeh or the 10 other Iranian Christians deported with her in February, it would help other Christians who are fleeing extreme persecution.

ICC released an emergency petition for Ghasemzadeh and her brother, Shahin, and several other Iranian-Christian refugees, calling on governments around the world to grant them asylum, facilitate their safe resettlement, and provide them with the support they need to start new lives.

Ghasemzadeh told ICC she would “rather die” than go back to Iran, knowing the fate that awaits her. 

“I have many nightmares now. I don’t have my hometown, I don’t have the USA, and I don’t have a safe country; I don’t know the next step, where should I live … it’s really scary for me,” she said. “It’s a trip where you never come back to your country, and it may be the last time you see all of your family; maybe you can visit your family in the country, maybe not.”

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org.