The Trump administration will not mean that Iranian nationals detained by ICE would face deportation to a war zone

Two Iranian gay men who sought asylum in the United States out of fear of execution in Iran face an uncertain future, with US officials not clarifying whether they could be deported during the ongoing process. US-Israel war with Iran if their asylum cases are unsuccessful.

Ali and Adel, who use assumed names, entered the US from Mexico in 2025, shortly before President Trump took office. They were facing charges at home about their gender, Rebekah Wolf, director of the Immigration Justice campaign at the American Immigration Council, told CBS News.

In Iran, “they are charged with a crime punishable by death, by hanging, basically,” Wolf said. “In many cases, it’s unclear or not clear what the asylum seeker is facing. I think this is a clear case of why our asylum system exists. They are facing execution by a regime that we believe should not be in charge. We have shown that through our actions … in the foreign policy of the United States.”

The couple first fled Iran to Turkey and “lived there for several years” before traveling through South and Central America to reach the US, Wolff told CBS News.

“Turkey is not particularly friendly to the LGBT community, but it also … does not have laws that allow you to seek permanent asylum there,” Wolf said. “The question of whether there were other places they could have lived or not, there are two answers to that. One is that most of those countries themselves are not friendly to LGBTQ communities.”

Another reason, he said, is that at least some of the countries they travel through “have policies about certain nationalities and, you know, see very high barriers to being able to resettle in one of these countries” like Iranians, he said.

Since arriving in the US and being detained at the southern border in January 2025, Wolff said Ali and Adel have been held in poor conditions and have been mistreated by security guards.

“They’re dealing with a sense of impunity with guards and ICE officers that don’t have the kind of consequences for small things like calling names, referring to other people in custody, things like that that we haven’t seen in previous administrations,” Wolf said.

Adel said she was injured during an attack in Mexico before she and Ali crossed the border into the US, while Wolff said her injuries, which had not been properly treated, left her confined to a wheelchair.

The two men were not able to retain lawyers when they were tried for their first immigration cases, because lawyers in such cases are not provided for free, said Wolf. Both were denied asylum applications for reasons that Wolf and the American Immigration Council say could have been prevented if they had had legal representation. Both are appealing previous decisions in their cases.

“They can’t be removed during the trial, but we’ve never had a guarantee that, if those apartments are removed for any reason, they won’t be removed,” Wolff told CBS News.

Deportation to an Iranian war zone?

Ali and Adel were almost deported to Iran three times, Wolff told CBS News, before the US and Israel went to war with Iran.

“They’re moved to a cell called a staging area — so they’re processed, they’re told they’re going to be sent back to Iran — and then they get to the deportation date,” Wolff said. “The mental stress of always being afraid of being removed from a place that wants to kill them, combined with the conditions of detention, is really difficult for them.”

He said he believed there was a break in between exile from the US to Iran since the start of the war, although he said the US Immigration Service had not been officially notified.

“In order to deport people from any country, including Iran, you must have an agreement with the host country. You must have negotiations with that country,” he said.

CBS News repeatedly asked the White House if there had been a pause in deportations from Iran during the war and was told the administration does not comment on specific cases. The White House referred CBS News to the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS did not respond to questions about the harsh conditions Wolf said Ali and Adel were held in, or whether there was a stay of deportation to Iran. The agency told CBS News on Wednesday that the two men were arrested by border guards on January 5, 2025.

“All of their requests were heard by a judge and found to be invalid,” DHS said, adding that Ali and Adel received final removal orders about a year ago.

“They received due process. They are currently detained at ICE where they will continue to be removed,” the agency told CBS News.

Meanwhile, Wolff told CBS News that the continuation of the two men in the US during the war could make the situation they face worse if they are deported to Iran.

“We know that in times of turmoil, in countries like Iran, anyone who appears to be connected to the ‘enemy’ is viewed with suspicion, and that, often, alone, is grounds for punishment or execution,” he said.