A lawsuit filed by the Public Citizen Litigation Group seeks to block the U.S. government from sharing the private information of Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government. The lawsuit, Iranian American Legal Defense Fund v. Rubio, asks the court to immediately stop the data sharing and order the U.S. government to notify all Iranian asylum seekers whose confidential information has already been disclosed.

Background

According to the filing, the requested injunction includes a sworn declaration from Cyrus Mehri, co-founder and board member of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF). Mehri stated he spoke directly with an Iranian official who participated in secret meetings with U.S. authorities where confidential asylum information was exchanged.

The court exhibits also detail Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilitated meetings, where asylum seekers allegedly faced pressure from Iranian officials to return to Iran. The affected asylum seekers include pro-democracy protesters, members of religious minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals who fled Iran citing severe personal danger.

Response

Legal representatives and advocacy leaders criticized the administration’s actions during a joint press conference regarding the litigation. Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, stated that the data sharing has persisted despite broader geopolitical tensions.

Ali Rahnama, Interim Executive Director of the IALDF, noted that he has spent the past year visiting ICE detention centers to interview affected individuals. Rahnama emphasized that these asylum seekers are not statistics, but human beings who trusted the U.S. government and its laws.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.