U.S. immigration officials collaborated with Iran to arrange deportation flights for Iranians in 2025, according to newly released emails obtained by the National Iranian American Council. The communications reveal a working relationship between the two governments despite escalating tensions and military conflict.
The exchange of hundreds of emails offers a detailed account of how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worked with Iranian officials to deport more than 100 Iranians on three separate flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026. The emails indicate that Iranian officials had a degree of influence over the selection of individuals for deportation, with ICE officials accommodating last-minute changes to the passenger lists.
One ICE official noted in an email in late August 2025, "Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases," just a month before the first flight. Later, an official mentioned meeting with the "Director at the Iranian Embassy" to make further unspecified changes to a deportation list, stating, "Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process."
Just days before a September 26, 2025, deportation flight, an ICE official indicated that the Iranian Embassy was still requesting to add three individuals to the manifest. The final number of individuals on the flight was smaller than initially planned, and it remains unclear who was ultimately included. Iranian officials continued to make requests on the day the flight departed, though some were denied.
Coordination for these flights continued even as ICE officials acknowledged internally that Iranians were fleeing their country amid a deadly 12-day war between the U.S. and Israel in June 2025. The flights departed months after a ceasefire was agreed upon.
These deportations mark a significant departure from the decades-long U.S. practice of accepting Iranian dissidents and exiles following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Human rights activists have criticized the deportations to Iran, citing the country's documented pattern of violent persecution against women, religious minorities, and political dissidents.
In September 2025, Iranian officials had stated that up to 400 Iranians could be returned under an agreement with the Trump administration, with most having crossed the U.S. border illegally from Mexico and others facing different immigration issues.
The extent of direct communication between U.S. immigration officials and the Iranian government is not fully clear from the emails. While some messages were relayed through Qatari officials, who assisted in chartering the flights, other communications reference direct meetings with the "Iranian delegation" and embassy officials.
It remains undetermined whether individuals placed on the deportation lists volunteered for repatriation or were forced. Previous reports have indicated that asylum-seekers were among those deported, with some claiming they were sent back against their will. Emails also revealed instances where individuals not on the final manifest were nonetheless boarded onto flights, with U.S. officials expressing confusion about how they were included.
Internal emails suggest that pressure to carry out the Iranian deportations originated from high levels within the Trump administration. Even during the U.S.-Iran conflict in June 2025, a former acting director of ICE identified the repatriation of Iranian immigrants as a "priority."
Despite warnings about the difficulty of removals amid the conflict due to Iran's refusal to issue travel documents and closed airspace, officials were urged to develop a plan to deport 58 Iranians who had final removal orders and were in ICE custody. One official described the effort as a "White House priority."
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, stated that the emails contradict former President Trump's claims of engaging in conflict with Iran to protect ordinary Iranians. Abdi asserted that the deportations demonstrate a priority of removing as many people as possible regardless of the method.
The emails also suggest that ICE officials arranged for Iranian government representatives to meet with detained individuals in the U.S. This aligns with testimony from Iranian asylum-seekers in a separate lawsuit who reported being forced to meet with Iranian officials possessing intimate knowledge of their asylum claims while in U.S. immigration detention.
The lawsuit alleges that U.S. immigration agencies illegally shared confidential information about Iranian asylum-seekers with the Iranian government. The Department of Homeland Security has vehemently denied these allegations, calling them "FALSE."