Lawsuit Claims US Shared Iranian Asylum Seekers' Data with Tehran
(MENAFN) A civil rights group is suing the federal government, alleging it secretly handed over confidential records on Iranian asylum seekers to the very regime they fled, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund claims the Trump administration struck a deal last year with Iranian authorities to routinely "share the information and immigration files of Iranians" detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to media.
Court documents allege that US officials have "periodically mailed or hand-delivered" sensitive immigration files to Iranian officials since March of last year.
Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney for the nonprofit, said the records pertain to individuals seeking asylum — among them pro-democracy activists and members of persecuted religious minorities, including Evangelical Christians — who came to the United States "because of the grave dangers they face in Iran."
The lawsuit contends that the alleged disclosures violate asylum seekers' legal protections and expose them, along with their families and associates, to the threat of persecution, torture and death should they be returned to Iran.
The US Department of Homeland Security rejected the allegations in a statement to media, dismissing them as "false."
The plaintiffs are asking a court to declare any such agreement illegal and to grant affected Iranian detainees the right to reopen their immigration proceedings.
Notably, the US and Iran maintain no formal diplomatic relations, and Washington does not typically coordinate with Tehran on immigration-related matters — a fact that underscores the gravity of the allegations.
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund claims the Trump administration struck a deal last year with Iranian authorities to routinely "share the information and immigration files of Iranians" detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to media.
Court documents allege that US officials have "periodically mailed or hand-delivered" sensitive immigration files to Iranian officials since March of last year.
Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney for the nonprofit, said the records pertain to individuals seeking asylum — among them pro-democracy activists and members of persecuted religious minorities, including Evangelical Christians — who came to the United States "because of the grave dangers they face in Iran."
The lawsuit contends that the alleged disclosures violate asylum seekers' legal protections and expose them, along with their families and associates, to the threat of persecution, torture and death should they be returned to Iran.
The US Department of Homeland Security rejected the allegations in a statement to media, dismissing them as "false."
The plaintiffs are asking a court to declare any such agreement illegal and to grant affected Iranian detainees the right to reopen their immigration proceedings.
Notably, the US and Iran maintain no formal diplomatic relations, and Washington does not typically coordinate with Tehran on immigration-related matters — a fact that underscores the gravity of the allegations.
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