Planned deportation flight to Iran is aborted for 2nd time, group says
A deportation flight carrying Iranians was abruptly turned around shortly after takeoff Tuesday, according to the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund.
The deportees on Tuesday's flight were scheduled to be flown to Pakistan, which was then set to transport them to Iran, but Pakistan declined to receive them, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
It's unclear why Pakistani authorities refused to accept the plane.
The diverted flight comes after a previous attempt to deport the same group was canceled Sunday while the plane sat on the tarmac in Arizona "ready for takeoff" and the detainees were moved back to detention, an attorney for the IALDF previously told ABC News.
Both flights come after a federal judge blasted the administration for planning to send people back to Iran -- "a declared enemy" -- during the ongoing war there.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Wednesday that Tuesday's flight "contained criminal illegal aliens who have criminal histories that include arrests and convictions covering assaults, drug trafficking, child abuse, domestic battery, and illegal weapon possession."
"They all had final orders of removal," the DHS spokesperson said. "Every illegal alien has their claims heard and receives due process. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period. As promised, the Trump Administration is employing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history. Make no mistake, these criminals who committed heinous crimes will be deported."
According to Human Rights First, a nonprofit organization that tracks deportation flights, the small ICE Air jet carrying the Iranians departed Tuesday from Mesa, Arizona, at around 5 a.m. local time and returned within 30 minutes.
According to transcript unsealed last week of a hearing held on Oct. 15, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered the government to provide at least five days' advance notice before any individual is "placed on a transport vehicle or plane bound for removal," along with 24 hours' notice of any finalized removal plan.
There has been no public notice to the federal judge about the last two deportation attempts.
"If anything happens that violates either of those two orders, I will hold every single person associated with violating it. I will start contempt proceedings," Reyes said during the hearing last month.
Judge Reyes, in last month's hearing, slammed the government over its plans to deport the Iranians back to their home country.
"We are talking about sending individuals in our care and custody to a country that we have bombed and we may continue bombing, and is a declared enemy of this country," Reyes said. "It is like saying we have individuals in 1942 in this country that we are going to send back to Nazi Germany. That is the equivalent of what you are telling me."
Last month's hearing was part of a lawsuit brought by the IALDF alleging that the government is sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government.
