tRUMP Deporting Christians! tRUMP Deporting Christians! tRUMP Deporting Christians! tRUMP Deporting Christians!

Christian converts are among the Iranians being sent home from US
11 hours ago
Leyla Khodabakhshi
EPA A woman's hand is holding a lit candle and placing it in a row of 
candles, in what appears to be a church. EPA
A woman lights a candle at a church in Tehran

One Monday in mid-October, after a year in US immigration detention, 
officers arrived unannounced at Majid's cell in Texas.

They told him simply to "pack up" - that he was being moved - even though 
an immigration judge had already granted him protection from removal five 
months ago. Shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, he was driven through 
the night to a military airfield in Louisiana.

Majid - not his real name - had fled Iran for the US in October 2024, after 
repeated detentions and alleged torture, first because of his involvement 
in the Mahsa Amini protests, and later because of his conversion to 
Christianity.

When US officials forced him to board a plane carrying more than 150 
deportees heading to Managua, Nicaragua, he remembers being the only 
non–Latin American on the plane. Hours later, the flight landed and 
officials handcuffed him, denied his request for asylum and directed him 
onto an itinerary routing him through Venezuela and Turkey toward Iran - a 
journey he understood as a forced return.

Majid later was able to go into hiding in Istanbul, terrified of what 
awaited him back in Iran. He is one of several Iranian Christian converts 
who spoke to the BBC - most anonymously out of fear for relatives back home 
- whose asylum claims have been rejected in the past year. Their accounts 
point to inconsistencies in how US authorities assess the risks facing 
Iranian returnees and how sensitive religious information in asylum files 
is handled.

Their experiences also run contrast to other elements of US foreign policy, 
as President Trump publicly laments the plight of Christian persecutions 
abroad, threatening to send troops into Nigeria "guns a-blazing" if its 
government "continues to allow the killing of Christians".

A White House official told the BBC that all individuals deported have had 
their asylum claims fully adjudicated before removal. The official said 
that recent deportations to Iran involved people with final orders of 
removal or those who had requested voluntary departure. They added that 
strict confidentiality rules prevent officials from disclosing whether 
someone applied for asylum and was denied.

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A rare deportation flight

As the US continues its crackdown on illegal immigration, it has made 
unprecedented changes to its policy towards Iranian asylum seekers. In late 
September, authorities arranged a chartered flight to Iran via Qatar - the 
first of its kind in decades, given the absence of diplomatic ties and 
Iran's human-rights record. The flight represented an unusual example of 
cooperation between Iran and the US.

Dozens of Iranians were placed on the flight, reportedly in shackles. One 
deportee, Sina, later described armed guards escorting passengers on the 
Qatar–Tehran leg. On arrival, they were questioned about their time in the 
US and their religious activities but were not immediately arrested, he 
said in a video, which was posted on a Farsi-language YouTube channel.

Among the passengers was the wife of Ali, an Iranian Christian convert now 
living in the US. She has since been contacted and summoned by Iranian 
intelligence.

"They deported my wife back to Iran even though she is a Christian," Ali 
says - the BBC has given him a pseudonym to protect the identity of him and 
his wife. "Now Iranian intelligence is after her and me."

For Ali's wife and others, the danger was heightened by what their lawyers 
say was a critical mistake.

Attorney Ali Herischi, who represents Ali, his wife, and another deportee 
from the September flight says several clients reported that sensitive 
information - including statements about religious conversion, political 
activity and the reasons they sought asylum - was not removed before 
deportation.

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deportation plan

Getty Images Torosian stands in front of the White House gate holding a 
sign that says: Iranian Christians ran from prison. Now ICE gives them a 
new one.Getty Images
Pastor Ara Torosian says Iranian Christians fear what will happen to them 
if deported back to Iran
Why returning is dangerous for Christian converts

Converts from Islam make up a significant share of Iran's 800, 000 
Christian population, says Steve Dew-Jones of Article 18, a UK-based 
advocacy group that monitors violations against Christians in the country.

With officially recognised churches tightly restricted, house churches have 
begun to emerge across the country. But practitioners continue to face 
persecution, Dew-Jones says.

Converting from Islam is treated as apostasy, and converts face arrest, 
interrogation and prison terms.

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Arrests have increased sixfold between 2023 and 2024, the Center for Human 
Rights in Iran reports. "Since the recent Iran–Israel clashes, we've seen 
the authorities use the term 'Zionist Christianity' even more aggressively. 
By branding converts as agents of Israel, the state frames ordinary 
religious practice as a national-security threat," Dew-Jones adds.

Some Iranians seeking asylum abroad cite conversion as part of their claim, 
while Iranian officials accuse them of exaggerating or fabricating 
conversions to strengthen their cases.

But it is unclear how many US asylum cases may be exaggerated, versus real 
fear of persecution.

"It's impossible to judge the sincerity of someone's faith - there's no 
window into people's souls," Dew-Jones says. "Yes, the system can be 
abused, but we also see many legitimate converts whose testimonies and 
church records aren't taken seriously by asylum courts."
Life on hold for those left behind

Asylum outcomes can diverge sharply even within a single household, Iranian 
asylum seekers and legal experts say.

In late June, ICE officers arrived at Marjan and Reza's house in Los 
Angeles. In video filmed by their pastor, Marjan is seen collapsed outside 
as agents detain her husband. Moments earlier she had called him pleading 
for help. The couple - both Christian converts from Iran who had applied 
for asylum in the US - were taken to separate detention centres. Weeks 
later, their cases diverged: Marjan was granted asylum in California, while 
Reza, held in New Mexico, was ordered to be removed to a third country.

After their June arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said on its X 
account that "during a targeted enforcement operation in Los Angeles, 
Border Patrol agent apprehended two Iranian nationals unlawfully present in 
the US - both flagged as subjects of national security interest."
Submitted photo Marjan lies on ground on her front lawn while immigration 
officers stand by and offer assistanceSubmitted photo
A screenshot of the video filmed by Pastor Ara, showing Reza and Marjan 
being detained by immigration enforcement

Pastor Ara Torosian, who filmed their arrest, disputes the Department of 
Homeland Security's claim that the couple were unlawfully present in the 
US.

He says they entered legally through a humanitarian programme and had work 
authorisations. "How can it be dangerous for the wife but not for the 
husband?" asks pastor, Ara Torosian, who himself fled Iran in 2010 after 
being detained for smuggling Bibles.

Majid, who managed to slip through the airport in Turkey, has been living 
in limbo since, while his lawyer follows up on his case. His wife, whose 
asylum case is still pending, now lives in Los Angeles with their 1.5-year-
old daughter - a child who has never met her father.

In the US, Ali is living with a friend from his church, and hoping his own 
asylum claim will be more successful than that of his wife, who was 
deported to Iran this year.

"If they grant me asylum, how can I stay here when my wife is in Iran? If 
they deport me, I could go to prison the moment I land."

Unable to work legally or open a bank account. He first stayed with a 
distant relative "just until my wife's case was resolved," but she was 
never released and, after nearly a year in detention, was deported. A small 
church later offered him temporary shelter.

"Anytime they ask me to leave, I have to sleep in parks," he says.

He is awaiting an immigration hearing but sees no good outcome. His wife 
has received another summons from Iranian intelligence.

"If they arrest her and demand I return," he says quietly, "I'll have no 
choice."