US holds secret talks with Tehran to deport Iranians even as war drags on, court documents show

Trump administration push emerges from a lawsuit alleging violations of national immigration regulations

The Trump administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents obtained by the Associated Press show.

The court documents unsealed on Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so.

The judge in the case ordered the government to give the court 24-hour notice of any finalized plans to deport Iranians to Iran or to any other country and five days’ written notice before any such deportation is carried out.

“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 … 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,” the judge, Ana Reyes, said according to the 15 October transcript that has now been unsealed.

“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.”

“Yes, your honor,” justice department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel said. “The government is executing lawful orders of removal.”

Georgiev-Remmel told the court there was no specific date set to carry out any removals. A legal group representing Iranians held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said a dozen Iranian detainees had been given notice over the past week that they would be deported to Iran. The legal group, the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, brought the lawsuit in which the transcript was released.

The court documents show that the administration maintained contacts with Iranian officials during the war over the removals, specifically for submitting travel documents and figuring out “possible avenues for removal”.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE’s parent agency, and the state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The development emerged from an ongoing lawsuit that alleges the Trump administration’s immigration agencies have been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, violating national immigration regulations and endangering countless Iranians, court filings argue.

The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund said on Thursday at least 12 Iranian detainees have been contacted by the Iranian Interest Section, an Iranian representative office in the Pakistani embassy in Washington that handles consular affairs, in the past week and notified of an upcoming deportation flight to Iran through Pakistan. The group did not say when the deportation would occur.