OMM Newsroom
The US government moved to deport 11 Iranian nationals to Iran via Pakistan in an overnight operation that an advocacy group says may violate a federal court order, according to an emergency motion filed Sunday and reported by Anadolu Agency.
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund said it learned on the evening of Saturday, November 7, 2026, that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) planned to remove 10 men and one woman at about 4 a.m. on Sunday, November 8. The flight was scheduled to travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, make a refuelling stop in Georgia, and continue to Iran on Tuesday, November 10.
According to the filing, ICE moved the detainees late Saturday from the Florence Service Processing Center and the Eloy Detention Center to Mesa, Arizona, for an early-morning departure from Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport. It has not been confirmed whether the charter flight departed as scheduled.
The detainees were reportedly given 15-day Pakistani transit visas ahead of their planned transfer to Iran.
The motion also said an Iranian government official met seven of the detained men at an Arizona detention facility on Friday. The official reportedly disclosed the itinerary and showed them a flight manifest listing all 11 people facing deportation.
The legal group argued that the planned overnight flight breached an order issued on October 15 by US District Judge Ana C. Reyes. The order requires the government to provide “five business days’ written advance notice” before removing an Iranian national to Iran or a third country coordinating the transfer.
The group said the administration filed an ex parte notice on Tuesday, meaning the planned Sunday departure would have followed only three business days’ notice.
