Administration sharing info about asylum seekers with Iranian government, lawsuit claims
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging the Trump administration has been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government.
According to the complaint filed in Washington, D.C., many Iranian asylum seekers are pro-democracy protesters, members of religious minorities, or members of the LGBTQ community who seek refuge in the U.S. "because of the grave dangers they face in Iran."
"Disclosing their confidential information to the Iranian Government violates the asylum seekers' confidentiality rights, puts those who are subject to removal to Iran, directly or through chain refoulement via third countries, at risk of persecution, torture, and death following their arrival in Iran, and endangers their family members and acquaintances who may still be residing in Iran," the group said in the complaint.
More than 100 people have been deported to Iran during the Trump administration, according to the IALDF.
The group wrote in the complaint that while the U.S. government may coordinate logistics with receiving countries, federal regulations prohibit the sharing of information that would "reveal or infer that the individual to be removed had applied for asylum."
"Disclosing their confidential information to the Iranian government violates federal regulations requiring confidentiality, endangers their family members and acquaintances who may still be residing in Iran, and puts those who are subject to removal to Iran at risk of persecution, torture, and death following their arrival in Iran," said Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group that is representing the IALDF.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which operates Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement to ABC News, "These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE."
"ICE meets and works to get travel documents for detainees with every country. ICE is committed to ensuring that illegal aliens are informed of their right to communicate with their consular representatives," the statement said. "Consistent with established protocols, ICE provides illegal aliens the opportunity to contact their consular post and facilitates consular access to detained individuals, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and agency policy."
A representative of the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
The IALDF complaint alleges that the Trump administration has continued to share confidential information during the current war between the U.S. and Iran. The group claims the two governments held monthly meetings to share the immigration files of Iranians in ICE custody, including final orders of removal and applications for asylum.
While the monthly in-person meetings reportedly stopped before the war began on Feb. 28, the group alleges that ICE has "continued to mail or hand deliver document packages to the Iranian Interest Section."
The complaint also alleges that Iranian officials have met with dozens of detainees at ICE facilities.
"Many of the Iranian detainees did not consent to meet with the Iranian Interest Section officials but were required to do so by ICE," the filing says.
"According to Iranian detainees who met with an Iranian Interest Section official, the official had knowledge of their immigration cases, including the details of their asylum applications," the suit said. "These nonconsensual meetings with the Interest Section official solidified the detainees' belief that they had been identified to the very same repressive government that they had fled."
The IALDF is asking a federal judge in Washington to block the government from providing confidential information to the Iranian government and to appoint a special master to review the files of Iranian detainees that have already been shared.
