A quiet channel between ICE and Iran shaped deportation flights, newly released emails show
Emails show ICE accepted Iranian requests on deportation lists as more than 100 people were sent back on three flights.
- Newly released emails reveal ICE coordinated with Iran to deport more than 100 Iranians across three flights, with Iranian officials influencing deportation lists and requesting last-minute changes to manifests.
- Pressure to execute these deportations came from the highest levels of the Trump administration; former acting ICE director Todd Lyons called the repatriation of Iranian immigrants a "priority" in June 2025.
- Iranian officials handpicked some deportees, and ICE officials accommodated requests to amend manifests. "Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases," one official wrote in late August.
- Human rights activists criticize the deportations to a country with a pattern of violent persecution, while Homeland Security denied allegations of sharing asylum records, calling such claims "FALSE."
- Documents indicate as many as 400 Iranians could be returned under the Trump administration agreement, marking a departure from decades of welcoming dissidents since the Islamic Revolution.
46 Articles
46 Articles
The US immigration agency ICE held consultations with Iran until at least the beginning of this year regarding who needed to be deported from the United States...
ICE, Iran quietly worked together on deporting Iranians to Iran, emails show
U.S. immigration officials worked with Iran to deport more than 100 Iranians to Iran in 2025, newly released emails show, revealing a working relationship between them despite tensions mounting at the time.
US officials coordinated deportation flights with Iran, emails reveal
The deportation of Iranians to a country whose government has a pattern of violent persecution against women, religious minorities and political dissidents has drawn significant criticism from human rights activists.
US worked with Iran to deport Iranians, emails show
Washington: US immigration officials worked with Iran to deport Iranians in 2025, newly released emails show, revealing a working relationship between the US and Iranian governments despite tensions mounting between the countries. Hundreds of emails exchanged between US immigration officials, which were obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public Tuesday, August 18, offer the most transparent play-by-play yet of how the two…
Quiet channel between ICE and Iran shaped deportation flights, newly released emails show
The president of the National Iranian American Council, said the emails undermine Mr. Trump's assertions that the U.S. is at war with Iran to save ordinary Iranians from a repressive regime.
A US-Iran channel shaped deportation flights as Tehran picked who was sent back
Newly released emails reveal U.S. immigration officials worked with Iran to deport Iranians in 2025 and 2026. Iranian officials influenced deportation lists and expedited removal processes for detainees. These flights occurred after a recent war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran. The deportations marked a shift from past U.S. policy towards Iranian dissidents. Human rights activists criticized the deportations to a country with a history of per…
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