Iranians deported from the United States will return to their home country in the coming days, Iran’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday, Dec. 7, in the second such deportation under President Donald Trump‘s contentious immigration crackdown.
“In the coming days, about 55 nationals will return to Iran… This is the second group being returned to Iran in the latest months,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, adding that U.S. deportations were based on “political grounds and anti-migrant policies that are against international law.”
A chartered plane carrying about 50 Iranians departed from an airport in Mesa, Arizona, and was expected to make stops in Egypt and Kuwait before arriving in Iran, The New York Times reported on Dec. 7. USA TODAY reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
U.S. and Iranian officials previously told Reuters in September that about 400 Iranians were expected to be deported from the U.S. The first flight, carrying 120 people, arrived in Qatar in late September before they were transferred to a Tehran-bound flight.
The group included both convicted criminals and people who had entered the country illegally, an unnamed U.S. official told Reuters at the time.
The deportation flights came after negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which have no formal diplomatic relations. The two countries do not have a direct line of communication, Baghaei said, adding that they communicated through their respective interest protection offices or through intermediaries.
Baghaei also criticized Washington for not facilitating visas for the entire Iranian soccer delegation for the World Cup draw held in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5, where Trump received FIFA’s Peace Prize at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“We have expressed our protest against the U.S.’s decision not to give visas for our team dispatched to the World Cup draw,” Baghaei said.
While Iran had applied for nine visas for its delegation, Iranian soccer federation spokesman Amir Mehdi Alavi was quoted as saying that the U.S. had granted only four visas, including for coach Ardeshir Amir Ghalenoei. The United States has long-standing, strict visa restrictions on Iranians.
Contributing: Charles Ventura, USA TODAY; Reuters