Court records show Trump administration worked with Iran on deportations during the war

The Trump administration kept in contact with Iranian officials about deporting Iranians even as the two countries were at war, according to court documents unsealed Thursday. A federal judge in Washington warned that deportees could face "a serious threat of certain death."

The Trump administration kept talking with Iran about deporting Iranian nationals even as the United States and Iran were at war, according to court documents unsealed on Thursday in a federal lawsuit in Washington, The Associated Press reported.

The documents show that U.S. officials stayed in contact with Iranian officials during the conflict about submitting travel documents and figuring out "possible avenues for removal." As recently as mid-October, the administration said it planned to deport Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when. The war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 and is now in its ninth month.

'A serious threat of certain death'

The disclosures include the transcript of an Oct. 15 hearing before U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes. "We are at war with a country where the President of the United States has said, as recently as two or three days ago, if not yesterday, that it is essentially lawless," Reyes said. "A country that is an enemy of the United States, according to the current president. A country that, according to our president, murdered tens of thousands of protestors."

She then pressed the government's lawyer. "And what you're telling me is that the United States of America is going to send individuals back to that region, facing what you and I and everyone who would ever look at this would know would be, at a minimum, a serious threat of certain death," the judge said. "Yes, your honor," replied Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel. "The government is executing lawful orders of removal."

The E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Reyes, who sits on the federal bench in Washington, ordered the government to tell the court within 24 hours of finalizing any plan to deport Iranians to Iran or to any other country, and to give five days' written notice before any such deportation is carried out. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the AP's request for comment.

A lawsuit over asylum files

The documents emerged in Iranian American Legal Defense Fund v. Rubio, a case filed on July 7 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The group, represented by Public Citizen, is suing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director David Venturella and their agencies. It alleges that since March 2025 the administration has given Iran's government confidential information from the files of Iranians seeking asylum, in violation of federal regulations that protect asylum records.

The plaintiffs say the asylum seekers include pro-democracy protesters, members of religious minorities such as evangelical Christians, and LGBTQ people who fear persecution, torture or death if sent back. In sworn declarations filed in July, 11 Iranians in immigration detention said they had been made to meet Iranian government officials who knew intimate details of their asylum claims, according to the AP. The group wants the sharing stopped and affected asylum seekers notified, and it has asked the court to halt the policy while the case proceeds.

DHS has rejected the core allegation. "These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE. ICE works with every country to get travel documents for detainees," the department said in a statement.

Three flights and a 'White House priority'

The new filings build on earlier evidence of a working channel between the two governments. Hundreds of emails among U.S. immigration officials, obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public in August, showed how the countries arranged for more than 100 Iranians to be flown back to Iran on three flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026. Some messages went through Qatari officials, who helped charter the flights through Doha, according to the AP.

Iranian Americans protest outside Iran's Interests Section in Washington

Iran's Interests Section, which operates out of Pakistan's embassy in Washington, has long been a gathering point for Iranian American protesters, as in this 2020 rally against an execution in Iran. The emails showed ICE accepting some last-minute changes to passenger lists at Iran's request. "Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases," one ICE official wrote. During the 12-day war in June 2025, another official urged colleagues to "identify a solution for this White House priority."

"The Trump Administration is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised," a DHS spokesperson said in August, adding that those deported included "terrorists, human smugglers, and suspected foreign agents." Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said the emails showed that "the top priority here was to kick out as many people as possible by whatever means necessary." Deportations to Iran were historically rare because the two countries have no diplomatic relations. The administration has also sent some Iranians to third countries, including an Iranian woman who was among about two dozen migrants deported to the Central African Republic in June.

Photos: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; G. Edward Johnson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0); VOA

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