LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The glasses Hooshang Aghdassi’s wife uses are still on the counter at their balloon shop, left untouched for over a month. What You Need To Know A Studio City business owner says his wife, Sharareh Moghaddam, was detained by ICE at a scheduled immigration appointment in Downtown Los Angeles According to the Department of Homeland Security, Sharareh Moghaddam entered the country in 2014 and obtained lawful status in 2016. Husband, Hooshang Aghdassi, began a peition signed by many community members asking for her release from detention According to the Department of Homeland Security, Moghaddam has a "documented criminal history dating back to 2015," however Aghdassie denies it Aghdassi says immigration officials detained his wife at a check-in in early August. “They came over. They said, ‘You can go. She’s not coming.’ And they took her, they said ICE took her,” says Aghdassi. He says his wife, Sharareh Moghaddam, who is originally from Iran, has been a green card holder for over a decade and recently passed her citizenship test. He says they were both under the impression she was attending a citizenship ceremony the day she was arrested. “So this now is, for me, devastating. I couldn’t believe it. Why she has, she doesn’t deserve to be in this kind of situation,” says Aghdassi. Also originally from Iran, Aghdassi has been living in the United States since 1977, running his shop for nearly 20 years now and married to Moghaddam seven years ago. Since then, he says they have both traveled in and out of the country many times without problems. Earlier this year, he says, she visited Iran after a death in her family. Having been vetted for citizenship not too long ago, he says he can’t explain why she would be arrested now. “As far as I know, she didn’t kill anyone. She didn’t rob anything. She’s very nice,” says Aghdassi. The Department of Homeland Security argues otherwise, and in a statement to Specctrum News 1 they said: “Sharareh Moghaddam is an Iranian citizen with a documented criminal history dating back to 2015. Although she is a lawful permanent resident, between August 2015 and May 9, 2019, Moghaddam was convicted of two separate theft offenses, rendering her subject to removal under U.S. immigration law. It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live in the United States of America. When you break our laws, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.” Associate professor at the USC Gould School of Law, Jean Reisz, says while she can’t address this case directly, criminal records can lead not only to be denied citizenship but also deportation. “For whatever reason, it hasn’t come to the attention of the government,” says Reisz. “Maybe it happened after they received their permanent residence because everyone who applies for citizenship has to be a permanent resident, and so they have now given information the government is scrutinizing that application and is going to see something that could make them barred from citizenship.” She also says that they can still consider expunged criminal records in immigration cases. Aghdassi maintains his wife is not a criminal and after putting up signs outside his shop pleading for help, community members have come together to petition for her release. He’s collected several pages of signatures from customers and supporters who have stopped by, but Professor Reisz says there is only so much that effort can accomplish. “If those convictions make are subject to her to a permanent bar or subject her to removal, there’s nothing that, you know, community support can do,” says Reisz. Still, Aghdassi is grateful for the support he has received. “Really, really helped me a lot because I feel I’m not alone. Friends, neighbors, all were supporting,” says Aghdassi. Still, he knows a judge will determine his wife’s fate and asserts that if the worst-case scenario were to come true and she got deported, he wouldn’t let her go alone. “If she has to go, if they send her out, my life goes with her,” says Aghdassi.