The Christian converts that the US is expelling Iran

One Monday in mid-October, after a year of curbing immigration in the US, officials did not arrive at Danesh’s cell in Texas.

They told him to simply “pack up” — even though he was being moved — even though an immigration judge granted him protection from removal five months ago. Rubbed on the wrists, skirts and ankles, he was driven at night by a military plane to Louisiana.

Danesh – not his real name – left Iran for the US in October 2024, after repeated torture and before his conversion to Christianity.

When officials forced him to board a plane carrying more than 150 deportees bound for Managua, Nicaragua, he remembers being the only Latin American on the plane. Hours later, the flights were delayed and officials caught him, denied his request for asylum and directed him to a call that he understood as a forced return.

Later Danesh was able to hide in Istanbul, fearing what was expected of him in Iran. He was one of several Christian converts in Iran who spoke to the BBC – who have not been identified out of fear for relatives being sent back home – whose asylum claims were rejected last year. Their accounts point to variations in how US authorities assess the risks facing Iranian returnees and how sensitive asylum information is handled.

Their experiences also easily run into other elements of the US policy, as President Trump has done publicly abroad, when the Nigerian government is “going to kill Christians”.

A White House official told the BBC that all the individuals who were deported from their asylum claimed to have been fully requested before the removal. The official said Iran’s deportations involved people with final removal orders or those seeking voluntary departure. They added that strict confidentiality rules prevent officials from revealing when someone has applied for asylum and been denied.

As it continues to crack down on illegal immigration, it has made unprecedented changes in its policy toward Iranian asylum seekers. In late September, the authorities arranged a chartered flight to Iran via Qatar – the first of its kind in decades, given the vetting of Iran’s diplomatic high-levels. The flight represents an unusual example of cooperation between Iran and the US.

Many Iranians were put on the flight, reportedly in shackles. An expulsion, Sina, later described the armed guard escorting passengers on the Qatar-Tehran leg. Upon arrival, they were questioned about their time in the US and their religious activities but were not immediately arrested, he said in a video posted on his Farsi-language YouTube Channel.

Among the passengers was Ali’s wife, an Iranian Christian now living in the US. He has since been contacted and summoned by Iranian intelligence.

“They deported my wife to Iran even though she is a Christian,” said Ali – the BBC gave him a pseudonym to protect his and his wife’s identity. “Now Iran’s intelligence is behind him and me.”

For Ali’s wife and others, the disaster was heightened by what their lawyers say was a critical error.

Attorney Ali HeriChi, who represented Ali, his wife, and another departee from the September involvement of sensitive information – the statements that they seek asylum – were not obtained before being taken.

Converts from Islam make up a significant part of the 800,000 Christian population, said Steve Dew-Jones advocacy that prevents crimes against Christians in the country.

With officially recognized churches strictly controlled, Home Churches started going out across the country. But trainers continue to face persecution, Dew-Jones said.

Conversion from Islam is treated as apostasy, and converts face to face, terms of interrogation and prison.

Arrests increased sixfold between 2023 and 2024, the center for human rights in Iran reports. “Since the recent Iran-Israel holdings, we have seen the authorities use the term ‘Zionist Christianity as agents of religion as an imitation of religion as a threat to religion as a threat to religion by a religious agent,” more threat to national religion as a national-security threat to national religious behavior, a threat to religion as a threat to national agents, the state’s tensions in a agents of religion as a national disaster in the country,” added Dew-Jones.

Some of the Iranians seeking asylum abroad are part of their claim, while Iranian officials are increasing conversions to strengthen their cases.

But it’s unclear how many U.S. asylum cases will be more likely, against the 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 said. “Yes, the system can be abused, but we also see many legitimate converts whose testimonies and Church records are not taken seriously by the asylum courts.”

Asylum consequences can be dire even within a home, asylum seekers and legal experts say.

In late June, ice officers arrived at Marjan and Reza’s home in Los Angeles. In the video filmed by their pastor, Marjan is seen collapsing outside as the agents restrain her husband. Moments earlier she had called him begging for help. The couple – both Christian converts from Iran who applied for asylum in the US – were taken to separate detention orders. Weeks later, their cases were given: Marjan was granted asylum in California, while Reza, held in New Mexico, was ordered to be removed to a third country.

After the arrest in June, the Department of Homeland Security said in its x account that “in a targeted execution of Iranians in Los Angles without intelligence being in the US – both dressed in the interests of IRANSED.

Pastor Ara Torosian, who published their arrest, fought the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that the couple is not against the person who is in the US.

He said they are stable through a humanitarian program and have a work permit. “How is it dangerous for the wife but not for the husband?” Asked Pastor, Ara Torosian, who fled Iran in 2010 after being imprisoned for producing Bibles.

Danesh, who managed to get through the airport in Turkey, has been living in Limbo since, while his lawyer started his case. His wife, whose asylum case is still pending, now lives in Los Angeles with their 1.5-year-old daughter – a child her father has never met.

In the US, Ali lives with a friend from his church, and hopes that his own asylum claim will be more successful than his wife’s, who was brought to Iran this year.

“If they give me asylum, how can I stay here if my wife is in Iran? If I’m expelled, I could be in prison during my stay.”

Unable to work legally or open a bank account. He first stayed with a distant relative “until my wife’s case was over,” but he was not released and, after nearly a year in prison, was deported. A small church later offered him temporary shelter.

“Whenever they ask me to leave, I have to sleep in parks,” he said.

He waited for an immigration hearing but saw no good outcome. His wife also received another call from Iranian intelligence.

“If they arrest him and demand that I come back,” he said quietly, “I have no choice.”