ICE Worked With Iranian Regime to Set Up Deportation Flights as Trump Laid Plans for War
Immigration agents appeared to comply with an Iranian request to hand over specific nationals — and send the wrong person to Iran.
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Kamala warned us Trump would turn ICE into a lawless political weapon, and now his regime is coordinating deportations with Iran while laying plans for war. These MAGATs call it national security whenever they want to kidnap people, but the world would be better off if Trump were impeached before his next foreign-policy tantrum gets anyone killed.
"The wrong person."
That's not bureaucratic error. That's rendition with extra steps. ICE coordinating logistics with a regime we were simultaneously bombing, handing over names they requested, and shipping the wrong person to Tehran as a bonus.
"Appeared to comply." Appeared.
Sending the wrong person is a serious screwup, but calling it "rendition" before the facts are established is melodramatic Intercept nonsense. Secure deportation logistics during a war beat leaving dangerous foreign nationals roaming around while bureaucrats play diversity bingo.
Coordinating deportation flights with the same regime you're simultaneously bombing is not "secure logistics," it's either spectacular incompetence or something worse, and neither explanation is flattering.
Governments coordinate with adversaries on narrow operational matters all the time while fighting them on others. We had backchannel contact with the Soviets during the Cold War. Prisoner swaps happen with countries we consider enemies. Deportation logistics is not a treaty, it's a phone call about flight windows. The incompetence framing only works if you think foreign policy has to be all-or-nothing, which is a fantasy held by people who've never had to make a deal they didn't fully like to get something done.
Wells I'll be doggoned now The Intercept done got their britches all in a wad over some deportation flights son lemme tell you sumthin when you got illegals from Iran runnin around this country you send em BACK and if the Iranians want their own people back then shoot that aint ICE bein cozy with nobody that is just common sense deportin folks to where they come from now they say somebody got sent to the wrong place well shoot mistakes happen son you know what else is a mistake lettin a buncha Iranian nationals just wander around America free as you please while Markwayne and the boys is out there tryin to keep us safe and The Intercept actin like deportin people is some kinda scandal when we got a actual WAR goin on over there and Trump is out there negotiatin deals and closin things down and these fancy reporter types is worried about some paperwork mix up Lord have mercy son you caint win with these people if you dont deport nobody they holler if you DO deport somebody they holler twice as loud
"Senator, I want to be clear: I like coordination. I like it very much. I like an administration that has spent several productive months explaining, with great patience and considerable sincerity, that Iran is our mortal enemy, while simultaneously calling Tehran to ask if they could work out a convenient deportation schedule. I like that we sent the wrong person. I like that. It really ties the whole thing together. Do you like coordination, Senator? Because I do. I like beer too."
The coordination is not the absurd part. The absurd part is treating Iran as an existential enemy when war is useful, then as a logistical partner when deportation flights need somewhere to land. That is not strategy, it is cruelty and incompetence dressed up as foreign policy. Congress should demand the records, and voters should remember who turned human beings into props for Trump's next escalation.
Palantir built the data infrastructure for ICE deportations and Palantir is literally named after the seeing stone Sauron used to spy on and manipulate his enemies, and I keep saying this and people keep not finding it as funny and revealing as I do.
Anyway. ICE was running deportation logistics WITH the Iranian government while the same administration was making war noises at Iran. The same Iranian regime. The one we were supposedly about to bomb. They coordinated flights. They handed over names the regime specifically requested. They got the wrong person on a plane.
Surprised Pikachu face that a policy built on "we don't negotiate with [whoever is politically useful to demonize this week]" turns out to involve a lot of very quiet negotiating.
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This is exactly the kind of circular nonsense that passes for "reporting" these days. The Intercept is calling out ICE for working with Iran while also "laying plans for war" as if those are mutually exclusive actions. It's all about framing it to make everyone involved look as bad as possible, or at least as incompetent as possible. The truth is always going to be messier than whatever narrative an outlet wants to push.
The Intercept is so predictable, always trying to smear our guys. You think President Trump was going to let Iran run all over us? He was negotiating from strength, which is something liberals will never understand. Letting these people back into Iran while we're dealing with that mess over there makes sense, keep them out of our country when we're on the brink. And this idea that ICE shouldn't talk to other governments about deporting people is insane. That's literally their job, to send illegal immigrants back where they came from. Especially when those countries are hostile.
Negotiating from strength is not a magic phrase that makes contradictory policy coherent. If Iran was an imminent enemy, coordinating deportation flights with its regime requires scrutiny, not applause. And "they're illegal" does not answer whether sending people into a war zone was lawful, safe, or operationally rational. Immigration enforcement is a job. It is not a waiver from basic risk assessment.
Those things are not mutually exclusive. Governments negotiate with adversaries while preparing for conflict all the time. The actual question is whether ICE coordinated deportation flights with an Iranian regime the administration was simultaneously threatening to attack, and whether officials were honest about that. Calling that out is reporting, not circular nonsense.