The Trump administration is preparing to deport approximately 40 Iranians as early as this weekend, including a gay couple who fled their country after being indicted for homosexuality in 2021. Immigration lawyer Bekah Wolf confirmed that her two clients, who arrived at the U.S. border seeking asylum in early 2025, fear execution if returned to Iran, where homosexuality remains illegal and punishable by death. The planned deportation comes despite President Trump’s recent criticism of Iran’s “complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before.”
The deportation flight follows massive unrest in Iran earlier this month and a subsequent bloody crackdown that left over 5,000 people dead and 26,000 arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. The country reportedly remains under unofficial martial law with a telecommunications blackout. National Iranian American Council President Jamal Abdi warned that “the same administration that promised Iranians that ‘help is on the way’ amid a deadly crackdown is now forcibly sending Iranians back into danger.”
This would mark the third deportation flight to Iran under the Trump administration, following flights in September and December 2025 that carried 55 people each. Previous deportations included gay individuals and Christian converts, with two Christian deportees later summoned for questioning by Iranian intelligence. One deportee, Mehrdad Dalir, described being forced onto the September flight: “I did everything in my power to stop them, but the ICE officials didn’t care. They told me, ‘You are either getting on the plane on your own, or we will tie you and send you back.'”
The planned deportations have drawn sharp criticism from advocacy groups who argue the administration’s actions contradict its stated solidarity with Iranians facing government oppression. Abdi stated that “words of solidarity against violence and repression ring especially hollow when you’re rounding those same people up and forcing them on planes to deliver them back into the hands of their oppressors.” The Department of Homeland Security has not confirmed the planned flight, citing operational security concerns.