Trump administration held secret talks with Iran on deportations during war, court filings show

The Trump administration held secret talks with Iran about deporting Iranians even as the war between the two countries continued, according to court documents obtained by the Associated Press and unsealed on Thursday.

The filings show the administration said as recently as mid-October that it planned to remove Iranians through an unnamed third country, though it gave no indication of when it intended to do so. The judge overseeing the case, Ana Reyes, ordered the government to give the court 24 hours' notice of any finalized plan to deport Iranians to Iran or to another country, and five days' written notice before any deportation is carried out.

Judge cites threat of 'certain death'

At a hearing on 15 October, Reyes pressed a Justice Department attorney about the plan, describing Iran as a country the president has called lawless and an enemy of the United States.

"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 transcript quotes her as saying.

"Yes, your honor," Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel replied, according to the transcript. "The government is executing lawful orders of removal." He told the court no specific date had been set for any removals.

Reyes also warned she would begin contempt proceedings if the administration broke her order. "We are talking about sending individuals in our care and custody to a country that we have bombed and we may continue bombing, and is a declared enemy of this country," she said. In a filing on Wednesday, the Justice Department argued that her order effectively worked as an injunction given the "possibility of sanctions and contempt dangling overhead".

Detainees given notice

The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, which brought the lawsuit, said at least 12 Iranian detainees had been contacted in the past week by the Iranian Interest Section — an Iranian representative office at Pakistan's embassy in Washington that handles consular affairs — and told of an upcoming deportation flight to Iran through Pakistan. The group did not say when the flight would take place.

One detainee attempted suicide after learning he might be returned to Iran, according to the group's executive director, Yasmine Chubin. He was one of two people moved across state lines to a detention center in Texas, where detainees are often relocated shortly before a removal. None of those contacted had received any written information from immigration authorities, the group said.

The lawsuit alleges that US immigration agencies shared confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, breaching immigration regulations and endangering Iranians. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, has denied sharing asylum application records with Iran. The DHS and the state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hundreds of emails between US immigration officials showed the two countries working together to arrange for more than 100 Iranians to be flown home on three immigration flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026, according to the documents.

Deportations of Iranians to their home country have historically been rare, because the US and Iran have no diplomatic relations and deportees could face persecution there. Under the Trump administration, which is carrying out a broad immigration crackdown, ICE has pushed to remove people even to countries that have typically been reluctant to take them back, or with which the US has icy or no diplomatic ties — at times sending people to third countries where they have no connections.

Source: The Guardian.