The deportation flight landed in near silence. No cameras greeted the 120 passengers forced off the plane in Tehran; no press statements marked their arrival.

Yet for Maryland-based immigration lawyer Ali Herischi, the return of Iranian migrants from the United States is something people should be making noise about.

This action is very dangerous, he told RFE/RLs Radio Farda. It normalizes the human rights situation in Iran and puts people at risk on their return.

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Herischi represents two of those among the first deportees -- one who had sought political asylum, another who had converted from Islam.

Both were escorted onto flights with handcuffs, Herischi said, only to be delivered back to the very country they had fled a country which, according to Herischi, was not designated by his clients as their extradition destination.

Im worried about my clients, who have arrived in Tehran, he said. After a few days, the authorities will begin interrogating them.

Families Separated, Cases Unheard

Beyond his own clients, Herischi describes a deportation process that was deeply flawed.

In some cases, families were split apart: mothers and children kept in the United States while fathers were suddenly deported. If those family members are later granted asylum, he argues, the deported parent would have qualified as well.

Herischi also points to what he sees as a failure of US immigration authorities to prioritize removals.

There was no proper prioritization, Herischi said. Those deported are low priority. There are still people with criminal records or even former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps members waiting here.

Iranian officials say roughly 400 nationals have been targeted for expulsion, most accused of entering the United States illegally through Mexico. Yet the opaque process and lack of government transparency leave unanswered questions about who was deported -- and why.

The New York Times, which first reported the deportation flight, describes the arrangement between Washington and Tehran as a rare moment of cooperation between adversaries. But critics argue the deal has come at the expense of vulnerable migrants whose asylum applications were either denied, ignored, or left unresolved.

Human Rights At Stake

Human rights advocates have consistently urged the United States not to expel individuals to countries with poor rights records. Irans record, they say, is among the worst.

The Islamic republic continues widespread persecution of political dissidents, activists, religious minorities, and LGBTQ individuals -- the very groups that make up a significant portion of Iranians arriving at the American border.

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In recent years, significant numbers of Iranians have joined larger migrant flows through Central America into the United States, citing those same risks as reasons for seeking asylum. While many cases stalled in the US asylum system, the current deportations show how quickly those claims can be swept aside.

For critics like Herischi, the deportation program highlights a blunt policy more concerned with optics than outcomes. The government just wants to quickly solve the migration problem, he said, without thinking about what comes next.

Written by Kian Sharifi based on reporting by Mohammad Zarghami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda