Trump Caught Assisting Iranians?!

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0:29Popok:We got some breaking, startling and heartbreaking news coming out of a new lawsuit filed against the Trump administration by the Iranian American Defense Fund. They are alleging on fax that the Trump administration has been regularly meeting with the Iranians to provide Iran with private confidential personal asylum information about asylum seekers who are trying to leave Iran because they're being persecuted, threatened with torture or worse. And what's the solution for the State Department, for Homeland Security, for ICE? To cooperate with a country we have been at war with since 1979 and send them the files for the people who are trying to leave that country.

1:19Popok:I'm Michael Popak. You're on Legal AF. Let's get to the new lawsuit filed by a group out of Washington called Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund. You're going to want to sit down for these allegations. Paragraph one. This is, again, we'll post this in Legal AF Substack for paid members. In furtherance of its mass deportation agenda in March of 2025, the Trump administration adopted a policy of providing the Islamic Republic of Iran with confidential information from the immigration files of Iranians seeking asylum in the United States. Many of the asylum seekers, the complaint continues, are pro-democracy protesters, members of religious minorities such as evangelical Christians or members of the LGBTQ plus community who seek refuge in the U.S.

2:17Popok:because they are in grave danger in Iran. I mean, I can't, it's almost unfathomable that I'm a part of a country that's turning over asylum seeker data and information to the countries that they're trying to leave. And then, as the complaint continues, before the war started, sent plane after plane after plane of former asylum seekers back to Iran where they are promptly interrogated about the files and information provided by the U.S. government. Let's turn to paragraphs 22, 23, and 24 of the complaint. And the most remarkable thing about those paragraphs is that when you draft a complaint under Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, you can do one of two things.

3:10You can make it a factual assertion, or you can say upon information and belief.

3:16Popok:Like, I'm not quite sure, but I have enough information and belief that what I'm about to allege is true. Here, it's not upon information and belief. They are reciting facts here as if they had, and probably do have, the evidence to support this secret meeting that they are now alleging. Here's what they say. Paragraph 22. In March 2025, the United States government contacted the Iranian intersection through the embassy of Pakistan and requested a meeting. They have to do it all through Pakistan because we don't have direct bilateral consular diplomatic relations with Iran. A meeting was arranged and held at the U.S.

4:00Popok:Department of State. That's Marco Rubio's territory. The March 2025 meeting was attended by a senior official from the Iranian intersection and U.S. Department representatives. The U.S. State Department stated that the U.S. wanted to deport Iranian nationals, including those in ICE detention, to Iran. During the meeting, the senior official from the Iranian intersection requested a list of the detained Iranian nationals that the United States wished to deport, and they were given by the U.S. a list of 150 people. Again, somebody is leaking this information. This was recorded or people in the room reported it to the lawyers to be able to do the complaint.

4:44Popok:The documents, paragraph 27, the documents provided to Iranian government officials include detainees' immigration records, applications for relief, and asylum applications. on information and belief. It continued, including hand delivery of documents to the Iranian government, even just up to the February 28th start of the war. After that, they continued. It says in paragraph 29, although the monthly in-person meetings stopped, ICE continued to mail or hand deliver document packages to the Iranian interest section. This was the subject of a Q &A by Senator Blumenthal, who's been on Legal AF before, with Mark Wayne Mullen during his confirmation hearing for Homeland Security.

5:31Popok:It's referenced in the complaint. And he said he would look into it. They then go on in paragraphs 38, 39, and 40 to talk about deportation flights that were done in September, December, and January, which had about 50 individuals apiece. These are asylum seekers being sent back to the country that they desperately wanted to leave. Paragraph 41, according to public reporting, upon arrival in Tehran, some of the deportees were made to fill out forms explaining why they left Iran and sought asylum. And they were then interrogated by the intelligence wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

6:15Popok:Who can forget Donald Trump saying, shaking his fist and saying, oh, if the Iranians start to abuse their own civilian population, they're going to be in trouble. Play a clip. President Trump weighing possible military action in Iran, warning the country may be starting to cross his red line. They rule through violence, but we're looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it and we're looking at some very strong options. We'll make a determination. In fact, the U.S. government, as set forth in the complaint, has already acknowledged that the Iranian government persecutes religious minorities and has been oppressing its citizens through detention, coerced confessions and killings.

6:59Popok:This is where we're sending the asylum seekers back to with our cooperation. We're putting them on the planes and into the hands of their captors. chapters.

7:10And I think it's worth noting that some of the ethnic minorities in Iran are Christians.

7:18Popok:You know how Donald Trump's always about this is a Christian nation and we have to have Christian values. We need to have more Bible in our life for a guy who's completely anti-religion. It does not live his gospel. He talks a lot about being a Christian and what it means. Well, those Christians are on the planes sent back by Donald Trump to Iran to be persecuted or worse. So what they're seeking is an order under the Administrative Procedures Act, which, and I want to take a moment for that, which is sort of like the, it's the key that unlocks the door to many suits for relief against the Trump administration.

7:59Popok:If you can't figure out what it is, it's probably a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, which says if there's final agency action, regardless of the type of department, that if you don't follow the rules and you don't give due process and you try to take away somebody's rights and you've made an arbitrary and capricious decision, you probably have violated the Administrative Procedures Act. It's either that or the Constitution. It just depends. So they want a block of any continued policy about the Iran government and confidential information being shared with them. They want a special master to be set up independent from the government that's going to review as an officer of the court the files of Iranian ICE detainees shared with the Iranian in government to determine what confidential information has been compromised, X and the rest.

9:03Popok:I'm going to try to get the lawyers for Public Citizen Litigation Group to join us here to talk about it on Legal AF for sure. Fast-moving story, complaint fresh off the presses, just got filed, just shows you the depravity of Donald Trump, his false populist message of support for the Christian community, support for the people of Iran, support, you know, the broad wings of America will be there as a shining light to protect freedom seekers. Forget it. He's cooperating. He's leading them into the ovens for extermination, if you know what I'm referring to. I'll continue to follow and I'm glad you're here.

9:43Popok:You're on Legal AF. Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button. In about an hour, you're going to come over to Legal AF here on the YouTube for live, live tab. I'm going to be moderating the American Civil Liberties Union. It's round up about the United States Supreme Court in a one hour from five to six. It's going to be me moderating along with the ACLU's executive director, Anthony Romero, Cecilia Wong, Deirdre Scheffling, and Sophia Lynn Lakin, all leaders of the ACLU, to talk about birthright citizenship, talk about voting rights and presidential power. You're not going to want to miss it.

10:24Popok:Link is below. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes where Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.