Overview
- The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen filed a federal suit Tuesday in Washington, D.C., alleging State Department and immigration officials conveyed detailed asylum-case information about detained Iranians to Iranian authorities.
- The complaint says the State Department arranged monthly meetings starting in March 2025 using the Pakistani embassy as an intermediary and that ICE compelled detainees to meet with an Iranian official who knew specifics of their asylum claims.
- Lawyers allege the shared materials included asylum statements about conversion, sexuality, and participation in the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests, and they say that some disclosures continued after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February 2026.
- The suit names the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and asks a judge to stop further disclosures and appoint an independent monitor to review past sharing.
- If the court finds violations of confidentiality rules adopted in the late 1990s, the case could force changes to how the U.S. coordinates deportations and affect the safety of Iranian dissidents who have historically sought refuge in the United States.