ICE Worked With Iranian Regime to Set Up Deportation Flights as Trump Laid Plans for War
Internal emails indicate immigration agents complied with an Iranian request to hand over specific nationals — and accidentally sent the wrong person to Iran. The post ICE Worked With Iranian Regime to Set Up Deportation Flights as Trump Laid Plans for War appeared first on The Intercept .
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents collaborated with Iranian officials to deport over 100 Iranian nationals as the U.S. prepared to wage war against their home country, according to recently released internal emails from ICE. Acting Director Todd Lyons ordered the deportation of three specific individuals, and hundreds of emails show ICE officials under Lyons' direction scrambling to put together plans for three controversial charter flights to Iran.
The flights delivered more than 100 people to Tehran just months before the U.S. and Israel launched their war in Iran, which has killed thousands of Iranians. This reversal of decades-long immigration policy towards Iranians, who were typically permitted to stay in the U.S. due to fear of persecution, was particularly cruel given the ongoing war.
The emails released reveal heavy pressure from high-ranking Trump administration officials to make the flights happen and coordination between ICE and Iranian officials, often through Qatari intermediaries. The timing of the deportation plan was particularly cruel, with Iranians already under increased targeting by ICE at the time.
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