Illegal aliens

Report: ICE and Iran Coordinated Deportation Flights

Is this a dangerous betrayal of asylum seekers or a necessary show of strength in immigration enforcement?

Published AUG 20

Report: ICE and Iran Coordinated Deportation Flights

Story

Above: Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents patrol Terminal 8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Image credit: Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images

The Facts

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) emails obtained by the National Iranian American Council via a FOIA lawsuit and published on Tuesday appear to show that the U.S. and Iran coordinated three deportation flights returning over 100 Iranian nationals to Tehran between September 2025 and January 2026.
According to the emails, Iranian officials sought last-minute changes to deportation lists, with one unnamed ICE official writing, "Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases." Another noted Iran asking to "amend the previous manifest."
ICE acting director Todd Lyons termed the deportations a White House priority during the 12-day U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran in June 2025, while other officials noted Iran's airspace was closed and Iranians were fleeing the country.
The first such flight departed Sept. 29, 2025, stopping in Qatar, where 54 Iranians transferred to a Qatar Airways flight to Tehran. An ICE official reportedly later noted that one person — not on the approved manifest — was boarded and deported. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately comment on the emails.
This comes as eleven Iranians in immigration detention filed sworn declarations in July alleging they were forced to meet Iranian government officials who possessed details of their asylum cases. The DHS denied the allegations, calling them "FALSE."
Federal regulations prohibit U.S. authorities from disclosing information that could reveal a person's asylum application, though the government may coordinate with foreign governments on deportation logistics.

The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Sharing confidential asylum claim data with the Iranian government is both illegal and dangerous — political dissidents could face torture or death because of it. Coordinating deportation flights with a regime the U.S. is effectively at war with is a stunning betrayal of people who fled for their lives. This isn't tough immigration policy but putting vulnerable people directly in harm's way.

Pro-Trump narrative

Getting results on deportations means forcing even hostile regimes to take back their own nationals, and that's exactly what happened here. Diplomatic comfort should never outrank actual enforcement — when the policy is firm, even Iran has to comply. Prioritizing outcomes over optics is what real immigration enforcement looks like.