Washington, DC – Jamal Abdi, President of the National Iranian American Council, issued the following statement on reports that the U.S. has chartered a plane to deport approximately 100 Iranian nationals to Iran, and will deport hundreds more to Iran in the months to come. In the days that followed the June war against Iran, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) touted the arrest of 130 nationals from Iran. These arrests have continued across recent months. Iranian nationals in detention, like many others, have reported unsanitary and overcrowded conditions inside detention facilities as they seek freedom and face the risk of deportation:
“This is a case where injustice has been stacked on injustice. Iranian nationals should not have been ripped from their families by ICE after the war and treated as a terror threat. They should not have languished in horrible, unsanitary prisons with minimal, poor food and cut off from their loved ones and support networks. They should have had a choice to stay in America, rather than choose between deportation to “third country” places like Romania and South Sudan or their authoritarian government, which also faces crushing sanctions and the threat of more war. Iran should not be a place where nationals fear to return home and face threats of wrongful imprisonment, torture and execution. And the United States should be a place that welcomes and supports immigrants.
“The fact that a deportation flight is being chartered to Iran underscores the grave civil rights violations being inflicted on Iranian nationals here in the United States. Our understanding is all these individuals agreed to be deported to Iran when facing a terrible choice: endure deplorable treatment in some of the worst prison conditions in the United States with little hope for release, be deported to a third country where they don’t speak the language, or return to Iran. Some of the approximately hundred individuals on the flight undoubtedly left Iran after participating in protest movements against their authoritarian government and now face the risk of reprisal. Under U.S. law, they should have been afforded a fair opportunity for asylum, but were denied under an administration that is acting increasingly lawless toward non-citizens.
National Iranian American Council will continue to support Iranians unjustly targeted and detained by ICE through our Travel Ban and Immigrant Justice Resource Center Work, including helping Iranians connect to litigation opportunities like we have for the travel ban, attacks on birthright citizenship and other harmful executive actions. We will also continue to urge the U.S. and Iran to pursue meaningful diplomacy and engagement for shared economic and security goals, rather than in rare forms of cooperation like this instance that are more harmful than beneficial.
“We encourage full transparency from the Trump administration on its treatment of Iranian nationals, restoring the right to apply for and receive asylum for Iranians and other nationals, and an end to unjustified ICE targeting of Iranian nationals and other immigrant communities. For Iran, we urge a full upholding of its international rights obligations, including abstaining from reprisals against any individuals deported back to Iran who engaged in prior acts of protest inside the country.”
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