The National Iranian American Council, a nonprofit organization, called on the administration to halt the flight. “Iranians like the ones on this imminent deportation flight come here to escape government repression. It is disturbing that, instead of honoring their asylum claims and offering them safety, our own government may be violating their human rights and compounding the harm done to them with abuses in detention,” the group’s president, Jamal Abdi, said in a statement.

The National Iranian American Council also issued a statement, saying: “The level of anguish and insecurity this will cause, on top of already rampant and arbitrary deportations of Iranian nationals, is difficult to understate. People who should be approaching their citizenship ceremony day with joy are suddenly seeing their futures in upheaval.”

“Fortunately, this is a nation of laws, and the more status people have, the more rights people have,” said Ryan Costello, the policy director at the National Iranian American Council, which lobbies on behalf of Iranian Americans. “But it is certainly a time of a lot of uncertainty and concern in the community.”