ICE Moves to Deport 11 Iranians in Alleged Court Order Breach
(MENAFN) Eleven Iranian nationals were slated for removal in a pre-dawn operation Sunday that a legal advocacy group says defied a federal judge’s order, according to an emergency motion filed the same day.
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund told the court it was alerted to the plan only hours beforehand. “Plaintiff learned on the evening of Saturday, November 7, 2026... that ICE will remove eleven Iranian nationals—ten men and one woman—from the United States at approximately 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, 2026, on a flight to Islamabad, Pakistan, with a refueling stop in Georgia (the country) and onward transfer to the Islamic Republic of Iran on Tuesday, November 10,”
The group said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pulled the detainees out of the Florence Service Processing Center and the Eloy Detention Center late Saturday and bused them to Mesa, Arizona. They were to board a charter at Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport in the early morning. Whether the aircraft took off on schedule has not been confirmed.
The detainees were reportedly given 15-day Pakistani transit visas before the planned handoff to Iranian authorities.
The motion also describes direct Iranian government involvement inside an Arizona detention facility. On Friday, an Iranian official reportedly met seven of the detained men, laid out their travel itinerary, and showed them an official flight manifest naming all 11 deportees.
The filing contends the operation violates an Oct. 15 order from US District Judge Ana C. Reyes. That order requires the government to give “five business days’ written advance notice” before removing any Iranian national to Iran or to a third country assisting in the transfer. The group noted that the administration submitted an ex parte notice on Tuesday, leaving only three business days before Sunday’s departure.
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund told the court it was alerted to the plan only hours beforehand. “Plaintiff learned on the evening of Saturday, November 7, 2026... that ICE will remove eleven Iranian nationals—ten men and one woman—from the United States at approximately 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, 2026, on a flight to Islamabad, Pakistan, with a refueling stop in Georgia (the country) and onward transfer to the Islamic Republic of Iran on Tuesday, November 10,”
The group said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pulled the detainees out of the Florence Service Processing Center and the Eloy Detention Center late Saturday and bused them to Mesa, Arizona. They were to board a charter at Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport in the early morning. Whether the aircraft took off on schedule has not been confirmed.
The detainees were reportedly given 15-day Pakistani transit visas before the planned handoff to Iranian authorities.
The motion also describes direct Iranian government involvement inside an Arizona detention facility. On Friday, an Iranian official reportedly met seven of the detained men, laid out their travel itinerary, and showed them an official flight manifest naming all 11 deportees.
The filing contends the operation violates an Oct. 15 order from US District Judge Ana C. Reyes. That order requires the government to give “five business days’ written advance notice” before removing any Iranian national to Iran or to a third country assisting in the transfer. The group noted that the administration submitted an ex parte notice on Tuesday, leaving only three business days before Sunday’s departure.
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