3 minPolitics
Federal judge threatens contempt over Iran deportations carried out without notice
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes warned the Justice Department it could face contempt for deporting detainees to Iran without prior notice to the court, citing President Trump's own claims about Iranian killings of protesters.
A federal judge has threatened the Justice Department with contempt over deportations to Iran carried out without prior notice to the court, pressing government lawyers on whether removals continue while the United States is conducting bombing operations against Iran. Court records unsealed Thursday, first reported by the Associated Press, show that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes raised the possibility of sanctions at a hearing held Oct. 15.
During the hearing, Reyes cited a claim made by President Donald Trump that Iran had killed tens of thousands of protesters, questioning how the government could justify sending people back to a country the president himself has described in such terms. She asked directly whether deportations to Iran were still taking place during the U.S. bombing campaign. Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel, a Justice Department lawyer, told the court that the government was still executing removal orders.
The judge has now required the government to provide written notice to the court and to the affected detainees at least five days before any deportation. The court must also be alerted once deportation plans are finalized. The Justice Department has argued that the threat of sanctions effectively amounts to an injunction, a position that goes to the heart of how far the court can constrain removal operations without a formal order.
The case was brought by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund. The group says at least 12 ICE detainees were told they would be flown to Iran by way of Pakistan, and that none of them received written notice from U.S. authorities. The lawsuit also alleges that ICE shared confidential asylum information with Iranian officials. The Department of Homeland Security denies that it shared asylum application records with Iran.
Court records unsealed with the filings also reveal secret U.S.-Iran talks about deportations held during the war. The disclosures add a diplomatic dimension to a dispute that centers on individual detainees. Activists have raised concerns that people sent back to Iran could face persecution amid the government's crackdown on dissent.
The hearing and the unsealed records leave the central question unresolved: whether the government can continue removals to Iran while the court considers the allegations and whether the notice requirements set by Reyes will be enforced. The contempt threat signals that the judge is prepared to escalate if the government does not comply with the new conditions.
Source: rawstory.com
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