President Donald Trump promoted Mora Namdar — a lawyer, part-time salon owner and former author of Project 2025 — to a senior role overseeing visa approvals, issuing passports and overseeing the welfare of U.S. citizens abroad.
Namdar, who is from Texas and the son of Iranian immigrants, was sworn in this week as the new assistant secretary of state in the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs after serving as director of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa within the agency.
The 38-year-old’s new role could determine the fate of the immigrants she applies for visas to, who have been critical of the Trump administration, according to testimony she gave to a Senate committee in October.
“I remain steadfast in supporting our operations at home and abroad to ensure that U.S. visa privileges are granted only to qualified individuals, that visa holders comply with the terms of their visas, and that individuals who violate those terms or disregard U.S. laws lose the privilege of holding a U.S. visa,” she said.
President Donald Trump promotes Mora Namdar — a lawyer, part-time salon owner and former author of Project 2025 — to a senior role overseeing visa approvals, passport issuance and the welfare of U.S. citizens abroad (State Department)
She quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio in her Senate statement, indicating that she appeared to agree with him that criticism of Israel and pro-Palestinian advocacy pose a threat to the United States and could lead to visa denials or revocations.
“Our consular officers must be equipped with the resources and support they need to effectively carry out their duties,” Namdar said. “As Secretary Rubio has emphasized, ‘consular officers have a responsibility to ensure that visas are issued only to individuals who meet the criteria and do not pose a threat to U.S. interests,'” she quoted Rubio as saying.
“Consular officials have the authority to revoke the visa of anyone who violates the terms of their visa or engages in activities that undermine our foreign policy,” Rubio continued in the statement.
Namdar quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Senate statement saying she appeared to agree with him that criticism of Israel and pro-Palestinian advocacy pose a threat to the United States (AFP via Getty Images)
Namdar ran her own law firm before entering politics and also founded a beauty company called Bam Beauty Bar with salons throughout her native Texas. daily beast First report.
“Prior to rejoining government service, Ms. Namdar founded and ran a successful law firm, worked for a Fortune 500 company, and created and operated several successful businesses,” the State Department’s Namdar bio states. “Ms. Namdar, an attorney licensed in Texas and Washington, D.C., is a native Texan and the child of Iranian immigrants.”
Her law firm, Namdar Law, announced on Instagram that it would no longer be active following the promotion.
The political appointee is the author of part of a 900-page Plan 2025 blueprint that accuses the media and academia of being “centers of power on the left”.
Namdar writes in The Blueprint about being part of the independent American Global Media Agency, which oversees media networks that provide news and information in countries with the most limited press freedoms. Columbia Journalism Review.
She called for the agency to be reformed or shut down entirely, accusing it of “security risks related to espionage,” the outlet reported.
