WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
The legal group, the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, brought the lawsuit in which the transcript was released. “The government is executing lawful orders of removal. The court documents show that the administration maintained contacts with Iranian officials during the war over the removals, specifically for submitting travel documents and figuring out “possible avenues for removal. The development emerged from an ongoing lawsuit that alleges the Trump administration’s immigration agencies have been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, violating national immigration regulations and endangering countless Iranians, court filings argue.
The judge in the case ordered the government to give the court 24-hour notice of any finalized plans to deport Iranians to Iran or to any other country and five days’ written notice before any such deportation is carried out. 15 transcript.
The court documents unsealed Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so. A country that is an enemy of the United States, according to the current president. A country that, according to our president, murdered tens of thousands of protestors,” Judge Ana Reyes said according to the Oct. “Yes, your honor,” Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel said. Georgiev-Remmel told the court there was no specific date set to carry out any removals. A legal group representing Iranians held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a dozen Iranian detainees had been given notice over the past week that they would be deported to Iran. In a court filing Wednesday, the Justice Department said the judge’s order effectively served as an injunction against the government “given the possibility of sanctions and contempt dangling overhead.”
“We are at war with a country where the President of the United States has said, as recently as two or three days ago, if not yesterday, that it is essentially lawless …
