Lawsuit alleges the U.S. shared Iranian asylum seekers' details with Iran

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses the Trump administration of sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the government of Iran, the very country many of them fled, an allegation that, if true, would put those people and their families at risk of persecution. The administration had not responded to the specific claims as of Tuesday.

Tyler Grant July 7, 2026 at 7:54 PM

A lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday makes a striking accusation: that the U.S. government has been handing the Iranian authorities confidential details about Iranians who sought asylum in the United States after fleeing Iran. The claims are allegations, not proven facts, and the government has not answered them.

The allegation

The suit was brought by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund together with lawyers from Public Citizen and filed in federal court in Washington, Public Citizen said. It alleges that beginning in 2025, U.S. officials shared protected information from asylum applications with representatives of the Iranian government, and that detained Iranians were in some cases made to meet with Iranian officials who already appeared to know the details of their cases, NPR reported.

Federal rules generally bar immigration authorities from disclosing the contents of asylum applications to the very governments applicants say they are fleeing, precisely because such disclosure can endanger them.

Who the plaintiffs say is at risk

According to the complaint, those affected include Iranians who took part in the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests, members of religious minorities and L.G.B.T.Q. people, Public Citizen said, groups that can face severe punishment in Iran. The plaintiffs argue that exposing their identities to Tehran could endanger not only those in U.S. custody but relatives still in Iran.

What the suit seeks

The plaintiffs are asking the court to order the government to stop sharing the information, to notify asylum seekers whose data was disclosed, and to put an independent monitor in place to ensure the practice does not continue, Fortune reported. The complaint names federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The government's response

The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations, Fortune reported. No official has publicly confirmed or denied the specific claims, and the administration will have the opportunity to answer the complaint in court.

Why it matters

Asylum is built on a promise of confidentiality: that a person's account of the persecution they fear will not be relayed to the persecutor. The lawsuit contends that promise was broken in a particularly dangerous way. Whether the allegations hold up will be tested through the court process, but the case has already put a spotlight on how the government safeguards, or fails to safeguard, the sensitive information of people who say their lives depend on it.