US Government Accused of Sharing Iranian Asylum Seekers' Data with Tehran

A shocking report published by The New York Times reveals that the US government under the Trump administration allegedly transferred personal and medical information of Iranian asylum seekers directly to Tehran. These asylum seekers, whose requests were denied, were forced to return to Iran where many faced brutal torture and some were executed.

A new lawsuit filed in the Federal District Court in Washington accuses the Trump administration of a secret and systematic cooperation with Iranian authorities. According to the complaint filed by a human rights organization representing Iranian-American citizens, US officials allowed Iranian government representatives to select which refugees would be deported back to Iran. This practice violated federal Department of Homeland Security regulations that strictly prohibit sharing sensitive information about asylum seekers and refugees.

The intelligence-sharing arrangement reportedly began in March of the previous year during a meeting between US State Department officials and Iranian diplomats at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, where an initial list of at least 150 candidates for deportation was handed over. Since then, US immigration enforcement officials held monthly face-to-face meetings with Iranian representatives, continuing to provide protected information about asylum seekers and their families remaining in Iran.

The cooperation persisted even after the US launched a comprehensive campaign against Iran in February, including the killing of a top Iranian leader. The lawsuit alleges that both sides pressured Iranian detainees to waive their rights and agree to return to Iran without guarantees of their safety, exploiting the sensitive information they had provided in confidence during their asylum applications.

Attorney Michael Kirkpatrick, representing the plaintiffs, stated the case is based on testimonies from detainees who were unexpectedly summoned to meetings with Iranian consular officials in the US, where confidential details from their official immigration files were disclosed. The Department of Homeland Security strongly denied the allegations, asserting that it did not share asylum application records with Iran but only allowed detainees consular access as legally required. The State Department declined to comment, citing ongoing legal proceedings.

Last year, over 100 Iranians, including religious minorities, human rights activists, and regime opponents, were deported back to Iran. Many have since been detained and subjected to harsh interrogations by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence agents. The human rights group emphasized that all these groups face well-documented risks of imprisonment, torture, or execution upon return and urged the court to issue an immediate injunction to halt this policy.