ICE Worked With Iranian Regime to Set Up Deportation Flights as Trump Laid Plans for War

Internal agency records obtained via the Freedom of Information Act by the National Iranian American Council and shared exclusively with The Intercept suggest that Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel collaborated directly with Iranian government authorities to expel upwards of 100 individuals while the United States readied airstrikes against their homeland.

Internal Emails Reveal Secret Coordination With Tehran

The newly disclosed trove of hundreds of internal emails spans from May to November of last year. They detail how ICE officials, operating under the orders of then-Acting Director Todd Lyons, scrambled to organize three controversial charter flights to Iran. These documents provide the clearest picture to date of the behind-the-scenes planning executed while the White House directed ICE to start removing Iranians.

Weeks or months prior to the commencement of the current, destructive conflict involving the U.S. and Israel that claimed the lives of thousands in Iran, these aircraft transported over 100 people to an uncertain destiny in Tehran. This operational pivot marked a reversal in decades of U.S. immigration policy. For years, fear of persecution from a government that American officials have frequently accused of ruthlessly killing its own people meant that Iranian citizens generally avoided expulsion despite possessing final removal orders.

Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, highlighted the cruel timing of the policy shift. According to Abdi, Iranians were suddenly under the microscope while the White House was directing ICE to start removing Iranians in the middle of the Twelve-Day war.

Among those flown to Tehran were political activists and ethnic and religious minorities. Many were transported against their will, with documented instances of detainees subjected to extreme distress prior to boarding.

Logistics, Qatar Intermediaries, and an Accidental Deportation

The planning for the first mass deportation flight on September 29, 2025, involved intricate diplomacy through foreign channels. Joshua Coster, identified in email signatures as the Enforcement and Removal Operations attaché at the agency’s U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, acted as the primary liaison with the Qatari government to secure landing permits and coordinate passenger transfers in Doha.

Logistical chaos marred the operations. In one notable mishap during the September 29 flight, Coster informed colleagues that an Iranian national not included on the final manifest had somehow been boarded onto the plane. Despite internal confusion, the accidental passenger was routed to Iran anyway. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined to comment on the mix-up.

Formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran have remained severed since 1979, making travel document issuance nearly impossible. Yet, internal pressures from top administration officials overrode traditional safety protocols. On June 19, 2025, Lyons ordered subordinates to launch target cases as a priority. Marcos Charles, head of removal operations, quickly instructed staff to draft plans for all removable final-order Iranians in custody.

Staff members initially expressed pessimism. One assistant director noted that Iran was uncooperative regarding timely travel documents and that regional airspace closures due to current conflict posed major obstacles. Nevertheless, leadership pressed forward to satisfy White House priorities, initiating conversations with the Department of State to engineer a solution.

Legal Challenges and the Impact on Asylum Seekers

The aggressive campaign to clear detention facilities saw ICE arrest between 290 and 300 Iranian nationals not previously in custody between June and July 2025. By that June, internal records tallied 522 Iranian nationals in ICE detention, including 244 under final removal orders and more than 5,000 active cases in removal proceedings outside custody.

Immigration attorneys have strongly condemned the policy shift. Hassan Ahmad, an immigration lawyer who has represented a number of high-profile people targeted for deportation in recent years, pointed out that the administration has dispensed with traditional roadblocks to achieve mass removals.