My family loves the holiday season. So much so that we listen to Christmas music year-round. Our yard is usually the most decorated on the street. We attend the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church with our daughter. On Christmas Day, we visit our extended family to open gifts.
The holidays looked very different this year. We spent Christmas morning visiting my husband, Shahrokh, in an ICE detention center, where he has been held for more than six months.
Brandi Rahimi
I met Shahrokh nearly 20 years ago at Sarita’s Mexican Restaurant in San Antonio, where he was working as a server. I was eating alone and reading a book about Washington, D.C., because I planned to visit the following week. Shahrokh asked about the trip and eventually for my phone number. Instead, I asked for his number and said I would call when I was back in town.
Shortly after I returned, we began dating. Our shared faith gave us a strong bond. Shahrokh had decided to make Jesus his Savior and was baptized a few weeks after we met. When I asked what drew him to the Christian faith, he relayed the biblical story of the shepherd returning for the one lost lamb. He said he always felt God’s presence guiding and helping him throughout life. We often talk about how Christianity is filled with mercy and forgiveness.
Shahrokh was born in Iran to parents who opposed the government. He fled the country in 2001 after being arrested and brutally tortured. Despite facing many challenges, my husband never stopped dreaming. One of his goals was to own a small restaurant, so we purchased one together. We loved working together, despite the long hours. Still, Shahrokh’s immigration status cast a shadow over the life we were building together. He lived in constant fear of being taken away.
We were married Oct. 20, 2009, at the justice of the peace. Instead of a bouquet, I wore a corsage. Our reception was lunch at a French restaurant on Austin Highway followed by celebratory cake. In 2013, our daughter was born, and she became our world.
Faith is how we approach every problem and event, how we deal with others, and how we treat each other. We discuss how God would want us to handle things. It is a priority that we raise our child to understand God and the Bible, so she is balanced, grounded and understands how truly loved and wonderfully made she is.
Shahrokh and Brandi Rahimi
Shahrokh is as devoted a father as he is a husband. He’s read countless bedtime stories, helped with homework and, most importantly, instilled his kindness in her. Until the moment he was torn from our home, he was present for every significant event in our daughter’s life.
My daughter had a panic attack when ICE agents came into our home. Both of us were crying, but my husband implored us to stay strong. She tells me now she never will feel safe in our home and asked to have a doorbell camera installed. Our daughter is a gifted student who always loved school but now doesn’t want to go. Shahrokh calls her every morning, because he knows her day will be ruined without a chance to speak to her beloved father.
Trying to navigate these difficult parenting times without my life partner is devastating. The Department of Homeland Security made the cruel claim that Shahrokh would experience “no net gain” from being released. The “net gain” is watching our daughter grow up and taking her to church every Sunday. Spending Christmas Day at home with loved ones instead of a cold detention center. Being able to enjoy a dinner date at Sarita’s Mexican Restaurant, where we sit and talk about how different life would have been had we not met that day.
Shahrokh called us a few times on New Year’s Eve. My daughter and I stayed home and watched fireworks in our neighborhood. The truth is, 2025 was a surreal year. I was happy for it to pass.
We talked about our New Year’s resolutions.
My husband met a friend to pray with while in detention. They study the Bible together, and I can tell the gospel is helping him. He said his prayers have revealed where he was lacking as a husband, father, follower and person, and he is trying to become the version of himself God wants.
This ordeal has helped me recommit to spending time with the Lord. I am doing a devotional with my daughter, praying regularly and asking God what is needed/wanted of me. We are attending church regularly, and I find myself spiritually hungry. I think most Christians look to Romans 8:28 for comfort. I find solace in Psalm 30.
But the most important resolution I made is to bring Shahrokh home, so we never spend another holiday season apart.
Brandi Rahimi was born and raised in San Antonio. She graduated from UTSA with a teaching degree and currently works as a preschool director. She is a mother and wife, advocating for the release of her husband from ICE detention.