Lawsuit Claims Trump Administration Shared Iranian Asylum Seekers' Data with Tehran

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in a Washington federal court alleges that the Trump administration transferred confidential information from Iranian asylum seekers' files to the Iranian regime. The Iranian American Legal Defense Foundation, represented by Public Citizen, claims this was part of efforts to expel these individuals from the United States and return them to Iran. According to the complaint, the practice began in March 2025 following a State Department meeting where a list of approximately 150 detainees was handed over to an Iranian official. Monthly meetings reportedly continued, during which immigration documents, deportation orders, asylum requests, and relief petitions were shared.

The lawsuit states that the shared information included details on hundreds of Iranians, including pro-democracy activists, evangelical Christians, and individuals persecuted for their sexual orientation. It warns that exposing these details to the regime they fled could endanger both the asylum seekers and their families remaining in Iran. Since September 2025, at least three deportation flights have returned over 100 individuals to Iran, with the latest flight occurring in late January, shortly after the Iranian government violently suppressed protests. The suit also alleges that immigration officials forced detainees to meet with representatives of Iran's Interests Section at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, who demonstrated detailed knowledge of asylum applications, reinforcing suspicions that files were shared.

The Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations, calling them false and stating that immigration authorities cooperate with all countries to obtain travel documents and provide detainees access to consular representatives as required by law. The lawsuit requests the court to halt further information transfers, appoint an independent party to review which files were exposed, and freeze deportations of Iranians until the investigation is complete.