LOS ANGELES \u2013 U.S. immigration officials worked with Iran to deport Iranians in 2025, newly released emails show, revealing a working relationship between the U.S. and Iranian governments despite tensions mounting between the countries.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of emails exchanged between U.S. immigration officials, which were obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public Tuesday, offer the most transparent play by play yet of how the two countries worked together to arrange for more than 100 Iranians to be flown back to Iran on three separate immigration<\/a> flights in September and December<\/a> 2025 and January 2026. <\/p>\n The emails show that Iranian officials had some influence over which Iranian immigrants in the U.S. were sent back to their home country, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials apparently heeded some last-minute changes to deportation lists at the request of Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cPer request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases,” one unnamed ICE official wrote in late August, a month before the first deportation flight in September. Just over a week later, someone with the same job title moved to make another, unspecified change to the deportation list after they said they met with the \u201cDirector at the Iranian Embassy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process,\u201d the official wrote.<\/p>\n In a Sept. 26 email, just three days before the deportation flight left U.S. soil, an ICE official said in an email that the Iranian Embassy was still making requests for three additional Iranians on the flight. It’s not clear who ended up on the flight, which ended up being much smaller than initially planned. Iranian officials were still making requests the day the flight departed, although one official wrote that those requests were denied. <\/p>\n Coordination of the flights remained a high priority even as ICE officials acknowledged internally that Iranians were fleeing Iran amid the deadly 12-day war with the U.S. and Israel<\/a> in June 2025, emails show. The flights departed just months after the U.S. and Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran.<\/p>\n The new emails highlight a clear departure from a decades-long practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution forced a large number of Iranians to flee.<\/p>\n The deportation of Iranians to a country whose government has a pattern of violent persecution against women, religious minorities and political dissidents has drawn significant criticism from human rights activists. <\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security did not offer comment in response to an emailed request sent Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n Some deportees were handpicked by Iranian officials, emails show<\/p>\n Iranian officials acknowledged in September 2025 that as many as 400 Iranians<\/a> could be returned under an agreement with the Trump administration<\/a>. They said most of the Iranians had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.<\/p>\n It is not clear from the emails how frequently U.S. immigration officials had direct contact with the Iranian government. Sometimes messages were conveyed through Qatari officials, who helped charter the deportation flights through Doha, but other times officials reference regular meetings with the \u201cIranian delegation,” the \u201cDirector at the Iranian Embassy\u201d and other unnamed Iranian officials.<\/p>\n It is not clear whether the people Iran put on the list had volunteered to repatriate or if they were forced. Previous reporting from The New York Times<\/a> revealed that asylum-seekers were among those deported to Iran, while others said they were deported against their will.<\/p>\n At least one person was deported who wasn’t supposed to be, emails showed. <\/p>\n \u201cAn Iranian not included on the final manifest we sent to the Qatari MOI was boarded on the flight,\u201d an unnamed U.S. official wrote.<\/p>\n In response, another unnamed U.S. official wrote, \u201cI have no idea how the case\/person got through on the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n US prioritized deportation efforts during war<\/p>\n Emails suggest that pressure to carry out the Iranian deportations came from the highest levels of the Trump administration, even when U.S. and Israel were exchanging strikes with Iran in a 12-day conflict between June 13 and June 24, 2025. <\/p>\n