The Trump administration recently deported a plane full of Iranians from the United States back to Iran, a result of a direct agreement between the two governments. This information comes from two senior Iranian officials involved in the negotiations and a U.S. official familiar with the plans.
This mass deportation stands out as one of the clearest indications of the Trump administration’s firm commitment to expelling undocumented migrants, irrespective of the human rights situation in their home countries.
According to Iranian officials, the U.S.-chartered flight departed from a military airport in Alexandra, Louisiana, on Monday evening. It made a stop in Puerto Rico to collect additional deportees before proceeding to Doha, Qatar. From Doha, the individuals were to be transferred to another chartered flight bound for Tehran.
Initially, Abolfazl Mehrabadi, the director of Iran’s interest section in Washington and a key coordinator with American officials, stated on Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had informed Iran that 120 of its citizens would be on the flight. However, on Tuesday, he reported that only 55 individuals were on board, with the remaining deportees expected to travel at a later date.
Mehrabadi explained that many of these deportees had been held in detention facilities for months, their asylum applications denied. They had opted for voluntary deportation, considering the alternative to be expulsion to a third country like Sudan or Somalia.
“Iran’s government does not like to see any Iranian in detention or lost in a third country, and they face no problems returning,” Mehrabadi affirmed.
He further noted that approximately 300 Iranians are currently in detention, with around 2,500 more facing the threat of deportation from the United States.
Historically, the United States has offered refuge to Iranians fleeing their country, which is known for one of the world’s most severe human rights records. Iran is known to persecute women’s rights activists, political dissidents, journalists, lawyers, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, among others.
However, earlier this year, the United States deported another group of Iranians, many of whom were Christian converts facing persecution at home, to Costa Rica and Panama. This expanding deportation campaign targeting undocumented migrants from various nations has already led to lawsuits from immigrant advocacy groups.
While the specific identities and motivations of the recently deported Iranians remain somewhat unclear, some details are beginning to emerge.
Among those deported were a 30-year-old Christian convert, a 36-year-old man—a new father, an ethnic minority, and a political dissident in Iran—and a young man who had arrived in the U.S. seeking economic opportunities.
In recent years, there has been an increase in Iranian migrants attempting to cross the southern U.S. border illegally. Many claim a well-founded fear of persecution in Iran due to their political and religious beliefs.
According to his wife and lawyer, Ali Herischi, one of the deportees, the political dissident, was being held in Houston and did not wish to return, but was forcibly placed on the flight.
Mr. Herischi confirmed that he also represented the Christian convert, and both clients had entered the U.S. from Mexico. The man arrived in February with his pregnant wife, and the woman with her husband in October 2024.
Mr. Herischi requested that his clients’ names not be disclosed to protect them from potential persecution in Iran.
He learned about the deportations through news reports and later received confirmation from an ICE contact that his clients were among those sent back.
“Neither of my clients consented to deportation,” Mr. Herischi stated. “They did not want to go, they did not sign anything. Their families are devastated.”
The dissident’s wife, speaking in a telephone interview, said that her last conversation with her husband was on Saturday, and he had no indication that his deportation was imminent. She and their baby are now out of detention and living with family, awaiting her own asylum hearing.
Previously, the United States rarely deported migrants to countries like Iran, partly due to a lack of formal diplomatic ties. This often left American officials with the choice of holding migrants in detention or releasing them into the U.S. In 2024, the U.S. deported approximately two dozen Iranians, a significant increase in recent years.
According to the two Iranian officials, the State Department initiated discussions with Iran’s interest section in Washington about three months ago to coordinate the deportation of Iranian migrants. Iran was tasked with verifying their identities and providing travel documents for some.
The Iranian officials indicated that the deportees included both men and women, some traveling as couples. While some had volunteered for deportation after lengthy detentions, others had not. They noted that in almost all cases, asylum requests had either been denied or individuals had not yet received an asylum hearing.
This deportation marks a rare instance of cooperation between the United States and the Iranian government. Hossein Noushabadi, the director general of parliamentary affairs in Iran’s foreign ministry, announced on Tuesday that U.S. immigration authorities intend to deport an additional 400 Iranians to Iran in the coming months.
These Iranians will be returning to a country grappling with severe government oppression and an escalating economic and energy crisis. They face a plummeting currency, rampant inflation, high unemployment, and shortages of water and power. The economic outlook is expected to worsen with the reinstatement of U.N. Security Council sanctions, which took effect on Saturday.
News of the U.S. government collaborating with Iran on deportations has alarmed some members of the Iranian diaspora. They caution that despite official guarantees from the Iranian government that returnees would not be harmed, security forces might still target them, often acting independently.
“Given that the Iranian government is one of the most serious human rights violators in the region, deporting Iranian migrants from the United States to Iran requires extraordinary sensitivity,” warned Omid Memarian, an expert on Iran’s human rights issues at DAWN, a Washington-based group focused on American foreign policy.
An immigration rights advocate reported that distressed Iranians facing deportation have been contacting the hotline of the U.N.’s refugee agency for assistance.