A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington accuses the U.S. government of quietly sharing confidential asylum applications from Iranian nationals with officials in Tehran, a move plaintiffs say could endanger dissidents, religious minorities and LGBTQ people who fled the regime. The case, brought in U.S. District Court in D.C., asks a judge to slam the brakes on any further disclosures and to install an independent monitor to keep tabs on future communications.
According to the Associated Press, the complaint says the State Department began arranging monthly meetings with Iranian representatives in March 2025, using the Pakistani embassy in Washington as a go-between. Lawyers allege U.S. officials handed over lists and files packed with intimate details from asylum claims, including religious conversion, sexual orientation and involvement in the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests, the very kind of information federal rules are supposed to keep under lock and key.
The lawsuit, filed by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen Litigation Group, names the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants, according to The Washington Post. It further alleges that ICE pressured detained Iranian asylum applicants in multiple facilities, mostly in southern states, to sit down with an Iranian government official who appeared to know specific details from their asylum files, and that written materials continued to be sent after Feb. 28, 2026.
Advocates say that is not just a paperwork problem. The National Iranian American Council public tracker, drawing on ICE data and FOIA requests, listed at least 570 Iranians in ICE detention as of late 2025. The complaint highlights three deportation flights in September 2025, December 2025 and late January 2026 that returned Iranian nationals, and lawyers say some people on those planes still had asylum claims pending.
"The law couldn't be more clear that information in asylum applications is protected," said Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group, calling the allegations "potentially a matter of life and death," according to The Washington Post. The plaintiffs want the court to order the government to notify everyone whose data was shared and to install an independent monitor to audit future dealings.
Legal stakes and remedies
The complaint contends that the alleged disclosures violate asylum confidentiality rules adopted in the late 1990s and asks for a permanent order blocking any further sharing of asylum-related information, notification to affected individuals and the appointment of an independent monitor, according to the Associated Press. The plaintiffs are also seeking documents and sworn testimony from officials tied to the March 2025 meetings and the subsequent exchanges.
Why the case matters
For immigrant-rights groups, the lawsuit is a high-stakes test of whether the government’s aggressive deportation agenda will override long-standing secrecy rules meant to shield asylum seekers from retaliation. The outcome could force agencies to change how they coordinate removals and whether they notify or protect people whose sensitive claims were exposed, a shift advocates say is crucial while Iran remains in a period of heightened repression and wartime instability.
