BIRMINGHAM, Ala (WIAT) – Newlyweds find themselves separated after waiting five years for marriage approval by the United States.
Morgan Gardner grew up in Locust Fork. It’s a small Blount Count town, about 45 minutes from downtown Birmingham. In 2020, Gardner picked up a controller and began playing Call of Duty. While playing online, she met Ribvar Karimi.
For the next five years, Gardner and Karimi would meet in Istanbul, Turkey and spend weeks together. Eventually an online relationship kindled into a loving marriage.
“He applied for the K1 visa in August of 2023, it took 15 months just to process our visa application,” Gardner said.
The couple went through a six-month interview process and later a very intense background check. Finally in 2024, the United States Immigration office approved his K1 visa, which allows immigrants to enter the U.S. with the intent of marrying a U.S. citizen, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Last October, Karimi arrived in the states and three months later the couple became married.
Five months after tying the knot, ICE came knocking at the door.
ICE agents told Gardner her husband was being detained because they did not file for an adjustment of status.
“I understand that they’ve got a job to do, immigration, but I just feel like he was specifically targeted because of what’s going on where he’s from, his home country,” Gardner said.
The couple got married within the 90-day period following approval of his K1 visa, that’s the only deadline the couple was aware of. Following Karimi’s arrest, Gardner immediately sought legal help.
“My attorney said that in previous administrations something like this wouldn’t happen, that he should be protected because he is married to a U.S. citizen,” Gardner said. “You can file for your green card 15 years later and they’re not going to come get you, so they just seemed very surprised that they showed up at our house.”
Applying for permanent citizenship was put on hold due to a family emergency.
“Right after I found out I was pregnant, we found out our baby had fluid around his heart, lungs and scalp,” Gardner said.
Gardner is 7 months pregnant. In two months, the newlyweds will become parents and Garder is hopeful she will not have to give birth to their child alone.
“My heart is broken,” Gardner said. “Our baby shower is going to be next weekend and he’s not going to be at home to go to that with me.”
Prior to CBS 42’s interview with Gardner, she received a phone call from the Eutaw County Corrections facility. It was her husband. During the quick exchange, she told him that he would be transferred to an ICE facility in Louisianna but is doing everything she can to get him home.
The phone call was cut off about five minutes into the conversation.
“This man loves America, the first purchase he made when he got here was an American Flag,” Gardner said. “If he was here on bad intentions, he wouldn’t have done that, he wouldn’t be willing to walk around with a flag, knowing he could get deported and sent back to a country where he could be killed for that.”
Now that her husband is in ICE custody, Gardner is worried that deportation could lead to death. Whether it’s because of possible future attacks happening in the Middle East, or at the hands of the Iranian Regimen.
“I have been worried sick that if he gets sent back for whatever reason that he’s going to be arrested or killed just because he’s been here already,” Gardner said.
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