120 Iranians Deported From US As Part Of Washington-Tehran Deal

A total of 120 Iranians have been deported from the US as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants.

Tasnim News Agency quoted Hossein Noushabadi, Director General for Parliamentary and Consular Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, as saying that the US immigration authorities have been planning for months to deport about 400 Iranians, most of whom had entered the country illegally, mainly via Mexico, in line with the American administration’s new restrictive immigration policy.

The 120 Iranians deported on Monday were part of the first phase of the plan.

“According to available information, these individuals will return to the country within the next one or two days,” he said, adding that among those being deported some had valid residency

permits. He said that the US officials had sought consent of those returning. He, however, said that most of those returning had entered the US illegally mainly through Mexico.

“We have urged the American government to respect the rights of Iranian migrants and their citizenship rights under international law. They must not be denied consular services, fair judicial process, or the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he added.

According to BBC, there has been an increased number of Iranians entering the US in recent years, including many who fear persecution at home.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the BBC: “The Trump administration is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise to carry out the largest mass deportation operation of illegal aliens in history, using all the tools at our disposal.”

Iran had been working on a deal with the US to deport its nationals from the US through its US Interests Section at the Pakistani embassy in Tehran.

For several decades, the US had been giving shelter to Iranians fleeing their country, which has one of the harshest human rights records in the world. According to New York Times, Iran persecutes women’s rights activists, political dissidents, journalists, lawyers, religious minorities and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, among others.

The US has made bilateral deportation agreements with a number of countries.

Earlier this year, Panama and Costa Rica agreed to take in several hundred African and Asian migrants from the US.

This is part of Trump’s earlier promise to “launch the largest deportation programme of criminals in the history of America”.