BATON ROUGE — Two Iranian LSU doctoral students were released weeks after being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.

Pouria Pourhosseinhendabad and his wife, Parisa Firouzabadi, were arrested in late June by ICE at their off-campus apartment in Baton Rouge. The ACLU said that the two have now been released, and all deportation proceedings were dismissed. The couple are Ph.D. students in LSU's mechanical engineering program. 

According to an ACLU news release, "ICE used state police to effectuate a ruse in which agents pretended they were responding to a hit-and-run the couple reported previously."

"Police used these false pretenses to lure Parisa and Pouria out of their home so that ICE could arrest them," the release continued.

They said the arrest happened just hours after the bombing of Iran, claiming the United States Government started hunting for Iranians on its own soil.  

According to the court filings, Pouria is enrolled at LSU and holds an active F-1 student visa; Parisa's student visa had not been renewed, but she remained actively enrolled at LSU.  

“When the Government faced the prospect of having to show their cards both in Federal Court and Immigration Court, they folded. We are grateful that as a result of these efforts, our clients can return home and continue their lives with their family and friends in the LSU community," said Ken Mayeaux, of Mayeaux & Associates, L.C.