Emails Reveal U.S.-Iran Coordination on Deportation Flights Under Trump Administration

Hundreds of emails obtained by the National Iranian American Council and released Tuesday reveal extensive coordination between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and the Iranian government to arrange three deportation flights carrying more than 100 Iranians in September and December 2025 and January 2026. The correspondence provides an unprecedented glimpse into direct communications between the two nations despite mounting geopolitical tensions between them.

Iranian officials exerted measurable influence over which Iranian nationals faced deportation, with ICE personnel responding to requests to add cases and modify removal lists. In late August, one ICE official noted: “Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases.” Days later, another official stated: “Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process” after meeting with an Iranian Embassy director.

Just three days before the first September deportation flight departed, Iranian Embassy representatives continued lobbying for inclusion of three additional Iranians, though the status of those requests remains unclear. The deportation flights proceeded despite ICE officials internally acknowledging that Iranians were fleeing their homeland during a deadly 12-day armed conflict between Iran, the U.S., and Israel in June 2025.

The arrangement marks a stark reversal of decades-long U.S. policy welcoming Iranian dissidents and political exiles since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Human rights organizations have heavily criticized the deportations of individuals to Iran, citing the government’s documented pattern of violent persecution targeting women, religious minorities, and political opponents.

Evidence suggests deportations operated as a Trump administration priority from the highest levels. Former ICE acting director Todd Lyons designated the Iranian repatriation effort as urgent in mid-June 2025, even as U.S. and Israeli forces exchanged strikes with Iran. ICE removal operations director Marcos Charles subsequently instructed staff to “make a plan” for deporting 58 Iranians with final removal orders already in custody.

Emails indicate Iranian officials gained access to immigration detainees for unspecified meetings while in ICE custody. This arrangement aligns with testimony from eleven Iranian asylum-seekers who filed sworn declarations in July alleging they were forced to meet with Iranian government officials who possessed detailed knowledge of their asylum claims.

A lawsuit filed by an Iranian interest group alleges U.S. immigration agencies illegally shared confidential asylum application information with Iranian authorities. Federal regulations enacted in the late 1990s prohibit sharing data that could reveal a deportee’s asylum application. The Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations, stating in July that claims about shared asylum records are “FALSE.”

At least one individual was deported who should not have been included, according to the emails. One ICE official wrote: “An Iranian not included on the final manifest we sent to the Qatari MOI was boarded on the flight.” A colleague responded: “I have no idea how the case/person got through on the plane.”

The National Iranian American Council’s president, Jamal Abdi, said the emails contradict Trump administration claims about defending ordinary Iranians from repression. “It demonstrates that the top priority here was to kick out as many people as possible by whatever means necessary,” Abdi stated. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment when contacted Tuesday.