US could deport large number of Iranian ICE detainees: NIAC

Rights advocates say they have reason to believe that the US government plans to send a large group of Iranians on a deportation flight back to Iran, based on information from attorneys of detainees.

If this happens, it would be the third such flight in five months. The first was in September and the second was in December.

“We’ve heard from a few sources. The main ones are lawyers of detainees in ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention,” Ryan Costello, policy director at the Washington, DC-based National Iranian American Council, told The New Arab.

“We’re trying to get answers. We’ve filed a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request,” he said.

Though there aren’t formal diplomatic relations between the US and Iran, there appears to be an agreement between the two countries to accept these deportees.

One concern for Iranian rights advocates is how they would be treated once they’re back in Iran. This would be the first such deportation flight since mass anti-government demonstrations broke out earlier this month.

“There’s an implicit threat that the Iranian government knows who they are,” Costello said, emphasising the vulnerability of these detainees.

This apparent planned deportation comes as Americans in cities across the US are holding regular mass demonstrations against brutal anti-immigrant crackdowns.

“The American people deserve to know what we’re doing, how we’re treating people, what our funds for ICE are going to,” Costello said.