The Iranian American Authorized Protection Fund filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging the Trump administration has been sharing confidential details about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government.
In accordance with the criticism filed in Washington, D.C., many Iranian asylum seekers are pro-democracy protesters, members of spiritual minorities, or members of the LGBTQ group who search refuge within the U.S. “due to the grave risks they face in Iran.”
“Disclosing their confidential data to the Iranian Authorities violates the asylum seekers’ confidentiality rights, places those that are topic to removing to Iran, immediately or via chain refoulement by way of third nations, vulnerable to persecution, torture, and demise following their arrival in Iran, and endangers their relations and acquaintances who should still be residing in Iran,” the group mentioned within the criticism.
Greater than 100 individuals have been deported to Iran in the course of the Trump administration, in line with the IALDF.
The group wrote within the criticism that whereas the U.S. authorities could coordinate logistics with receiving nations, federal laws prohibit the sharing of data that will “reveal or infer that the person to be eliminated had utilized for asylum.”
“Disclosing their confidential data to the Iranian authorities violates federal laws requiring confidentiality, endangers their relations and acquaintances who should still be residing in Iran, and places those that are topic to removing to Iran vulnerable to persecution, torture, and demise following their arrival in Iran,” mentioned Public Citizen, a nonprofit shopper advocacy group that’s representing the IALDF.
A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety, which operates Immigration and Customs Enforcement, mentioned in an announcement to ABC Information, “These allegations that ICE shared asylum utility data with the Iranian authorities are FALSE.”
The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety seal is displayed forward of an anticipated press convention on the FEMA Nationwide Response Coordination Middle in Washington, January 24, 2026.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
“ICE meets and works to get journey paperwork for detainees with each nation. ICE is dedicated to making sure that unlawful aliens are knowledgeable of their proper to speak with their consular representatives,” the assertion mentioned. “According to established protocols, ICE gives unlawful aliens the chance to contact their consular submit and facilitates consular entry to detained people, in accordance with relevant legal guidelines, laws, and company coverage.”
A consultant of the State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from ABC Information.
The IALDF criticism alleges that the Trump administration has continued to share confidential data in the course of the current war between the U.S. and Iran. The group claims the 2 governments held month-to-month conferences to share the immigration information of Iranians in ICE custody, together with closing orders of removing and purposes for asylum.
Whereas the month-to-month in-person conferences reportedly stopped earlier than the warfare started on Feb. 28, the group alleges that ICE has “continued to mail or hand ship doc packages to the Iranian Curiosity Part.”
The criticism additionally alleges that Iranian officers have met with dozens of detainees at ICE amenities.
“Most of the Iranian detainees didn’t consent to satisfy with the Iranian Curiosity Part officers however have been required to take action by ICE,” the submitting says.
“In accordance with Iranian detainees who met with an Iranian Curiosity Part official, the official had information of their immigration circumstances, together with the main points of their asylum purposes,” the swimsuit mentioned. “These nonconsensual conferences with the Curiosity Part official solidified the detainees’ perception that they’d been recognized to the exact same repressive authorities that they’d fled.”
The IALDF is asking a federal choose in Washington to dam the federal government from offering confidential data to the Iranian authorities and to nominate a particular grasp to assessment the information of Iranian detainees which have already been shared.
