A gay couple who fled Iran and sought asylum in the United States will now be deported to their home country and face possible execution under Iranian law that criminalizes homosexuality.
The men, in their late 30s to early 40s, were originally scheduled to be deported on a flight departing from Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona on Sunday, January 25, as part of a group of more than 40 Iranian nationals, including Christians, fleeing religious persecution.
Rebecca Wolf, an attorney with the American Immigration Council who is representing the couple, said her clients would likely face public execution if returned to Iran.
“[Homosexuality] “It’s not just speculation, it’s a very real concern because it is punishable by the death penalty in Iran,” Wolf said. arizona mirror. “The last time one of them came close to being deported, he had destroyed all his papers, so he didn’t have anything with him.”
Wolf added that ICE will provide the names of all passengers on deportation flights to Iranian authorities, as required under the Deportation Cooperation Agreement, even if the client does not have identification documents.
Wolf said her client, who declined to be named, fled Iran in 2021 after being arrested by the country’s so-called morality police for homosexual acts. They were released while awaiting sentencing and eventually fled the country, entering the U.S. through the southern border in January 2025, in the final days of the Biden administration.
According to advocatethe men arrived with a third LGBTQ individual, a woman, who was also detained by ICE. The woman who represented Wolf was granted asylum after a 45-minute hearing and released after the government declined to appeal the decision.
The couple was denied asylum in spring 2025 because they lacked proper legal representation before the American Immigration Council filed their case. At the time, there were no forced returns to Iran as there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries. The situation changed last summer when the United States quietly resumed removal flights to Iran.
Wolf, who said the men’s initial asylum hearings were “full of prejudice,” filed an emergency motion to pursue an appeal and have the case reevaluated. On Friday, January 23, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver issued a stay of eviction order against one of the men.
the wolf said LGBTQ nation ICE has sole discretion in deportation and can remove a man’s girlfriend from a plane without a court-issued residence permit. While in ICE custody, the partner allegedly suffered severe medical neglect, lost 40 pounds and became so weak that he required a wheelchair.
Wolf also said that ICE generally maintains that it may deport noncitizens once a final removal order is issued, even if an appeal is still pending.
LGBTQ nation It was later reported that neither man was on the Jan. 25 deportation flight to Iran, according to the American Immigration Council.
Wolf described the couple’s case as a “textbook” asylum case. “People in countries where who they are is considered a crime and punished with torture and death. That’s literally the definition of an asylum seeker,” she said.
One of Mr. Wolf’s customers said: CNN He said he and his partner would be executed if returned to Iran and called on the US government not to deport asylum seekers to countries where opposition is violently suppressed.
“If you care about your people, let us stay,” the man said. “We are not bad people. We love this country. If we could live in this country, we would love this country more than we love our homeland. Because our homeland is occupied. Our homeland is in ruins. It is being destroyed by the Iranian government.”
“While the administration typically does not comment on specific flights to protect operational safety, the individuals being deported will be subject to an enforceable final order,” meaning a federal judge has ordered their removal from the United States, a senior Trump administration official told CNN. The statement appears to reinforce Wolf’s contention that the administration is prioritizing deportations over humanitarian considerations.
said U.S. Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). arizona mirror He called reports of an agreement between the Trump administration and Iran to return asylum seekers “very disturbing.” She and U.S. Rep. Dave Minn (D-Calif.) said they have sent letters to the Departments of Homeland Security and State seeking clarification on why the U.S. resumed deportations to Iran last summer, but have received no substantive responses.
“Given [Trump]”President Trump’s own statement that ‘help is on the way’ is a very clear way to help the Iranian people who are literally on the brink of death,” Ansari said, referring to President Trump’s public support for protesters targeted by Iran’s crackdown.
Wolf said any deal between the United States and Iran would highlight the hypocrisy of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“On the one hand, we are saying we support the protesters against this horrible regime,” she said. “And at the same time, we have agreements with the same regime to deport people who have fled to seek asylum.”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
