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 info to the Iranian Authorities violates the asylum seekers’ confidentiality rights, places those that are topic to elimination to Iran, immediately or by chain refoulement by way of third nations, liable to persecution, torture, and loss of life following their arrival in Iran, and endangers their members of the family and acquaintances who should be residing in Iran,” the group stated within the criticism.
Greater than 100 folks have been deported to Iran through the Trump administration, in line with the IALDF.
The group wrote within the criticism that whereas the U.S. authorities might coordinate logistics with receiving nations, federal rules prohibit the sharing of knowledge that may “reveal or infer that the person to be eliminated had utilized for asylum.”
“Disclosing their confidential info to the Iranian authorities violates federal rules requiring confidentiality, endangers their members of the family and acquaintances who should be residing in Iran, and places those that are topic to elimination to Iran liable to persecution, torture, and loss of life following their arrival in Iran,” stated Public Citizen, a nonprofit shopper advocacy group that’s representing the IALDF.
A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety and a consultant of the State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from ABC Information.
The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety seal is displayed forward of an anticipated press convention on the FEMA Nationwide Response Coordination Heart in Washington, January 24, 2026.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
The criticism alleges that the Trump administration has continued to share confidential info through the current war between the U.S. and Iran. The group claims the 2 governments held month-to-month conferences to share the immigration recordsdata of Iranians in ICE custody, together with closing orders of elimination and purposes for asylum.
Whereas the month-to-month in-person conferences reportedly stopped earlier than the battle 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 small print of their asylum purposes,” the swimsuit stated. “These nonconsensual conferences with the Curiosity Part official solidified the detainees’ perception that that they had been recognized to the exact same repressive authorities that that they had fled.”
The IALDF is asking a federal decide in Washington to dam the federal government from offering confidential info to the Iranian authorities and to nominate a particular grasp to assessment the recordsdata of Iranian detainees which have already been shared.
