Emails reveal ICE coordinated with Iran on deportation flights, sharing asylum-seeker details
Aug 20, 2026
Country of origin: Iran

Newly released emails between U.S. immigration officials and the National Iranian American Council show ICE worked closely with Iranian government officials to arrange deportation flights for more than 100 Iranians in September and December 2025 and January 2026. Iranian officials reportedly requested last-minute additions and removals from deportation manifests, and at least one person was mistakenly placed on a flight who was not on the final list. A separate lawsuit alleges Iranian officials were allowed to meet with detained Iranian asylum-seekers in ICE custody and knew intimate details of their asylum claims, which DHS disputes as false. DHS said deportees included people it characterized as security risks, while human rights advocates criticized sending people back to a government known for persecuting dissidents.
Sources
Related incidents
- Man who told agents 'I'm a citizen' deported from Texas days laterOct 8, 2026 · TX
- Men detained in Dover, NJ raid held at Roxbury warehouse; one deported to HondurasOct 8, 2026 · Dover, NJ
- US deported 500+ people to third-country African nations despite torture, persecution risksOct 8, 2026
- Medford father deported to Mexico, leaving wife and five children behindOct 7, 2026 · Medford, OR
- Phoenix man unlawfully deported to Equatorial Guinea, beaten and missing after speaking to pressOct 7, 2026 · Tucson, AZ
- Cuban man detained in Florida, deported to Central African Republic, held in BanguiOct 6, 2026 · West Palm Beach, FL