The United States is preparing to deport around 400 Iranians, most of whom entered the country illegally, as part of President Donald Trump’s wider push against immigration, Iranian officials said Tuesday.
Hossein Noushabadi, director general for parliament affairs at Iran’s foreign ministry, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency that 120 Iranians would be deported in the first phase, many of whom had crossed into the US through Mexico. He said the group was expected to arrive in Iran within days.
The move, reported first by The New York Times, follows months of negotiations between Washington and Tehran an unusual example of cooperation between the two adversaries. A US-chartered flight reportedly left Louisiana on Monday and was scheduled to reach Iran via Qatar by Tuesday.
According to the Times, some Iranians volunteered to return after spending months in detention centers, while others did not. Noushabadi urged Washington to respect the rights of Iranian migrants, saying, “Some had residence permits but, due to reasons stated by the US immigration office, they were included in the list. Of course, their own consent was obtained for their return.”
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Trump has vowed to deport record numbers of people living in the US without legal status, blaming what he calls high levels of illegal crossings on his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
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