Lawsuit says U.S. shared Iranian asylum files with Tehran

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges that Trump administration immigration agencies shared confidential Iranian asylum records with the Iranian government, exposing people who fled persecution to the state they escaped. The complaint says the disclosures could endanger pro-democracy protesters, religious minorities and LGBTQ Iranians whose claims described conversion to Christianity, sexual identity and participation in the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests.

The information-sharing began in March 2025, when the State Department arranged monthly meetings with Iranian officials through the Pakistani embassy as an intermediary. U.S. officials periodically mailed or hand-delivered immigration files of Iranians in custody. Detainees later told lawyers they were called into meetings with Iranian Interest Section officials who already knew details from their asylum claims.

Federal rules bar this kind of disclosure. Under 8 CFR 208.6, asylum-related information must remain confidential and cannot generally be shared with third parties without consent. The lawsuit argues the alleged disclosures violated that protection.

Immigration officials detained roughly 600 Iranians last year, and in September 2025 Iran said 120 detained Iranians would soon be returned, with as many as 400 total potentially covered by an agreement.

The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen Litigation Group plan to seek a preliminary injunction to stop the alleged sharing and to require personal notice for anyone whose information may have been disclosed. The Homeland Security Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations did not immediately comment on the allegations.