US cancels deportation flight of Iranian migrants on the plane's runway - Sarmad
Deportation flight of Iranians in Arizona canceled after intervention by lawyers and a federal judge.
Translated by Qiyas from سرمد — Original source
A flight carrying Iranians in the U.S. state of Arizona was canceled before takeoff, and the detainees were returned to detention centers, according to a lawyer for the American Iranian Legal Defense Fund.
A lawyer for the American Iranian Legal Defense Fund told ABC News that a flight carrying Iranians was canceled on Sunday while it was stopped on a runway in Arizona, ready for takeoff, and the detainees were returned to detention centers. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the department does not comment on potential deportations or their details.
The cancellation came after the Fund announced in court filings that 11 Iranian nationals—10 men and one woman—were scheduled for deportation on Sunday, and that an Iranian government official met on Friday with a detained Iranian migrant to inform him of the flight’s schedule.
This follows weeks of criticism from a federal judge over the administration’s plans to deport Iranians to a country it described as a declared enemy during an ongoing war there. The Department of Justice acknowledged in a hearing last month that it was planning to deport Iranian migrants to Iran, as part of a lawsuit filed by the Fund, which alleges that the government is sharing classified information about Iranian asylum seekers with Tehran.
During the hearing, Judge Anna Reyes reprimanded government lawyers, asking, “Are we going to deport people in our custody to a country with which we are at war?” She added that the situation was akin to returning individuals to Nazi Germany in 1942.
The government ordered at least five days’ advance notice before placing any individual on a deportation vehicle or aircraft, and 24 hours’ notice of any final deportation plan, threatening contempt proceedings for noncompliance.
According to court documents, the Iranian Interests Section in Washington sent officials to U.S. detention centers to meet with Iranian detainees. Some detainees in California and Arizona refused to meet with them, while a Department of Justice lawyer stated that Washington would facilitate the detainees’ travel to a third country, from which Iran would transfer them to its territory.
